


Operation: Saving Cedric Diggory

by Starkiller2886



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Action/Adventure, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:20:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 57,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24629176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starkiller2886/pseuds/Starkiller2886
Summary: It started with a nightmare, one where Lou Ellen saw the death of Cedric Diggory, Harry Potter held hostage, and the possible resurrection of Lord Voldemort. Armed with a Quest, Lou Ellen, Nico, Will, and Malcolm travel to Hogwarts to make sure Cedric survives the Triwizard Tournament. Starts during The Last Olympian and before Prisoner of Azkaban, but mainly focuses on post Blood of Olympus and during Goblet of Fire.
Relationships: Cedric Diggory/Malcolm Pace, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase
Comments: 21
Kudos: 131





	1. A Goddess, Wizard, and a Demigod Walk into a Room, What could go Wrong?

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so here's a plot that's been going through my head lately so I guess we'll see where it goes.  
> Some more Summery info: Story starts right before PoA and during TLO, and goes through some of the events of PoA and HoO but is mainly focused during the GoF and post BoO. I hope you all enjoy.

**Chapter I: A Goddess, Wizard, and a Demigod Walk into a Room, What could go Wrong?**

* * *

**Cedric Diggory** fell onto his bed with a wide smile plastered on his face from the letter he had received from Professor Sprout, confirming that he had been approved to be the next Captain of the Hufflepuff quidditch team. The letter was included with his Hogwarts letter containing the list of supplies he needed to purchase from Diagon Ally.

He knew that he deserved to be the Hufflepuff captain, he was the best Seeker at Hogwarts, though Harry Potter was quickly catching up to him; but he still had a year of experience on the other kid. It did bother Cedric slightly when thinking about the Gryffindor Seeker, how he had managed to make his House team as a First year, Cedric remembered how he barely managed to make the training squad his First year, never less the actual team.

But none of that mattered because right now, he was the captain of his House’s quidditch team and nothing could ruin this moment for him. Cedric tossed a treat to the owl that had delivered the letters, before sending it off through his bedroom window. Cedric took a moment to stare out at the darkening sky. Thunder rumbled in the distance after a bolt of lightning strafed the sky.

Cedric flopped back onto his bed and glanced over to the bronze medal hanging on his dresser. Though he knew he should just be happy to have the medal he was still upset it was not gold.

He could barely make out the emblem of the ‘Under Seventeen Quidditch Tournament’. Oliver Wood still has not spoken to him since he let the American Seeker beat him to the snitch in the Semifinals. It was also the first time England had gotten beat by the U.S. team in a tournament. Cedric will forever remember how the dark-haired girl, Blackstone, just magically zipped passed him and snatched the snitch right out in front of him.

Cedric spent another minute or so laying on his bed before deciding he should tell his father about getting to be captain. Though Amos had been pretty much telling everyone who would listen that “his son was the best Seeker at Hogwarts and was the next team captain” since the end of the year, but even with their loss to the Americans last year, Cedric was happy that he had the proof to show what his father had been boasting.

Climbing off his bed, Cedric made way towards the door in his room when he bumped into someone at the door.

At first, he thought it was his father, but it was not him.

“Ahh!” Cedric screamed at the appearance of the dare he say, a beautiful woman standing in his doorframe. She wore an elegant white toga with gold highlights, her blond hair resting along her shoulders.

“Who are you?” Cedric asked pulling out his wand and standing up slowly. “Did you hurt my father, where is he?”

The woman inhaled deeply before waving her hand and making Cedric’s wand disappear. “Please, your oaf of a father wouldn’t notice a Hellhound if it bit him in the-“

“Who are you?” Cedric interrupted.

The woman glared at him, “Don’t interrupt me.” She threatened.

“Who are you, and where is my wand?” Cedric asked, his tone getting angrier.

“Cedric, I need your help.” The woman finally said. Her tone quieter than before, almost solemn.

She walked past Cedric and towards his window. “There’s a storm coming, and it will destroy everything in its path. _Your_ family needs _your_ help.” The woman ominously said. Her attention still towards the dark stormy sky.

Cedric heard footsteps walking down the hallway towards his room, most likely his father.

“Ced, is there someone in…your…” Amos stood in the doorframe, a shocked look on his face. “Room.” He finished walking slowly towards the woman at the window. “What in the name of Merlin are you doing here?” Amos asked, venom seeping into his voice.

“Amos, it’s been a while.” The woman said turning to meet Amos’s glare. Cedric stood in between the two, afraid that he would start a war if he moved.

“Dad, who is she?” Cedric asked, frustrated with the lack of answers he was receiving.

Amos inhaled deeply before audibly sighing. “Cedric, meet your mother, the _great_ Aphrodite. Goddess of love and leaving babies on their father’s doorsteps with only a letter attached and showing up almost sixteen years later.” Amos said, not breaking eye contact from ‘Aphrodite’.

“Hold up; first off mother? My mother died eight years ago. Second off, Aphrodite like the-“

“I am the goddess.” She interrupted.

Cedric scoffed at the remark. “Right, and I’m Hercules.” He said sarcastically.

“Don’t mock me boy.” The woman ordered walking closer to Cedric, she even started to grow in size to tower over the sixteen-year-old. Her head just missing the ceiling.

Amos whipped out his wand and pointed it at the self-proclaimed goddess. “Back away from my son!” Amos ordered. Aphrodite glanced at him and then back to Cedric, who was visibly shaking from fear.

A look of realization crossed Aphrodite’s face and she shrunk back down to the height she had been. “I’m sorry Cedric, I-I don’t know what came over me.” She admitted.

Once Aphrodite backed away Cedric turned to his father. “Why did you say that she’s my mother? Mum died when I was eight.” Cedric asked.

Amos looked down to his feet. “Meredith for all intense and purposes was your mother, we started dating-“

“When we were still together.” Aphrodite laughed cutting Amos off. “Cedric, your father cheated on me with the same woman he would later marry.”

Cedric was too confused to say anything. “Oh that is rich coming from the woman who was married, to her own brother while we were seeing each other, while also having an affair with her other brother, and probably at least five other ‘mortal’ men and probably some women. So please do not turn this just on me!” Amos shouted.

“For Merlin’s sake! You’re actually Aphrodite? I, I can’t deal with this right now.” Cedric said pacing around the room unable to fully comprehend the discussion taking place. And ignoring the squabble between his father and Aphrodite.

“Aphrodite, why are you in my house, talking to a son that you clearly never wanted to have any type of relationship with?” Amos asked.

Even though Cedric was still trying to process the fact that the woman who he thought to be his mother for the past sixteen years was in fact his stepmother, the comment still stung. _‘Why didn’t she want to be a part of my life?’_ Cedric thought to himself.

“We all wish we could have done things differently, but the sad reality is I am an Olympian, and I have my responsibilities as the goddess of love. And that means that I can’t have an actual relationship with not just Cedric, but all my mortal children. There isn’t a day that goes by where I wish I could keep them safe on Olympus but that’s not how the world works. You knew that when we had our…thing.” Aphrodite shot back.

The room remained silent for a dreadful minute before Cedric finally spoke up. “Then why are you here now?”

Aphrodite looked out the window once again just as a lightning bolt arced across the sky and the rumble of thunder following it. “Because the fate of the world is at stake. My grandfather, your great grandfather, the Titan Kronos is on his way to destroy Mount Olympus, and it’s up to the demigod children of the gods to defend it from his forces.” Aphrodite explained.

“If I remember the myth correctly; didn’t Zeus cut Kronos up into a bunch of little pieces and throw him into Tartarus?” Cedric asked, raking his brain for the myths that Professor Binns had mentioned over the years.

“He’s arisen, and the gods would intervene, but we’re engaging the god Typhon who’s on his way to also destroy Olympus. Our forces are scattered across the map. The demigods need you and your…unique powers.” Aphrodite explained.

Cedric did not know what to say. Mostly, his mind was racing trying to decipher if what Aphrodite was saying was true or not. But Amos answered for him.

“Absolutely not, even if I would let him do something as dangerous as fighting…” Amos threw his arms up at a loss “A war? He wouldn’t legally be able too, he’s underage, he still has the Trace on him. He’ll be expelled from Hogwarts and exiled from the magical community.”

Cedric let out a quiet sigh of relief that his father answered for him.

“He won’t be Traced in the US, the MACUSA is out of commission because of the Titan’s. They placed a powerful sleeping spell across New York, only monsters, gods, and demigods aren’t affected.” Aphrodite countered. “Amos, billions could die if Kronos destroys Olympus, and those that remain will be his slaves.” Aphrodite pressed.

Another loud crash of thunder shook the house and the wind started to pick up. Aphrodite glanced out of the window nervously. “Cedric, I need an answer; Zeus is finally noticing my disappearance from the front. Please. Your brothers and sisters need you.”

“No, Cedric will not be participating in your family squabbles. I will not permit it!” Amos shouted.

Cedric’s eyes quickly glanced between his ‘mother’ and father. “They’re our family squabbles, not just mine.” Aphrodite stated.

Amos started shaking his hands angrily and he looked like he wanted to attack the goddess.

“I’ll do it.” Cedric whispered. But neither one heard his hushed tone, “I’ll do it!” He said louder.

They both turned to face the boy. “You will?” They both asked.

Cedric nervously glanced at his father and Aphrodite. “If the fate of the world is at stake, then I’ve got to help.” Cedric softly said.

“Ced, what she’s asking you to do isn’t face some creatures from the Forbidden Forest, or even a basilisk. Hell, you wrote to me at least a dozen times last term about how much the damn thing freaked you out. There will be monsters out there that make the basilisk look like a house pet. You are not prepared!” Amos forcefully yelled.

Cedric shook his head at his father, mentally rolling his eyes. “Dad, I’ve got to do this.” Cedric said to his father, placing his hands-on Amos’s shoulders. Amos’s head tilted down slightly at his words. He was deep in thought, probably trying to figure out what to say to him.

“Cedric, I know that in reality, I can’t stop you, not with her in my way; but you have no idea what’s in store for you across the Atlantic. Please. Do not go, I’ve already lost your mother, I don’t think I can survive losing you.” Amos muttered bringing his son into a hug.

Cedric nodded at his father, “I won’t do anything reckless, just help where I can.” Cedric promised, though he knew he could not guarantee that promise, and he knew his father knew that as well.

A bright flash of light caught Cedric’s eyes as a large thunderclap shook the house.

“We need to get going, Zeus is getting angrier by the second.” Aphrodite said while nervously glancing out the window.

Cedric let go of his father and walked over to Aphrodite. She snapped her fingers and Cedric’s wand reappeared in her hand. “Here’s this and…” She snapped her other hand and a bronze three-foot sword appeared. “In case something happens to your wand or if you come across something that your spells won’t work on.” She said and handed the blade to Cedric. It was sheathed in leather and bronze with a small silver heart at the top end of the sheath. The words ‘ _Love Conquers All’_ was written in ancient Greek vertically etched in the bronze. _‘Wait, is that Greek?’_ Cedric thought to himself before Aphrodite dragged him out of his stupor.

“Its name is _Widow’s Love_ , forged in the fires at the heart of Olympus by Hephaestus himself.”

Cedric accepted the sword and grabbed the charmed muggle drawstring bag hanging on his bedpost and gently placed the blade inside of it.

Aphrodite held her arm out for Cedric to take it. Cedric gave his father one last knowing look before grabbing onto her arm.

“Close your eyes.” Aphrodite commanded.

Cedric did as he was told and closed his eyes as a weird feeling of immense power swept through him. Bright yellow and orange light pierced through his closed eyes. He struggled to keep them shut until the light and the feeling went away. Cedric opened his eyes to see that he was standing in the middle of a darkened street where storm clouds had covered the city. The darkness making the large quiet city even more ominous.

“Majority of the fighting is taking place on the other side of the island.” Aphrodite explained. She pointed south, “The demigods are based in the Plaza Hotel not too far from the Empire State Building.” Aphrodite explained. “Also, Mount Olympus is located above the Empire State Building.” Aphrodite added.

Cedric let out a quiet snort, “Naturally.”

“Good luck my son.” Aphrodite said. Cedric closed his eyes just as she teleported away.

Cedric stared out at the spot where she had just disappeared from, amazed at the power she commanded. “Okay Ced, time to go find some demigods.” He said to himself as he started running down the street littered with sleeping muggles.

Cedric drew his wand as he ran, _“Point Me Plaza Hotel.”_ Cedric commanded and his wand turned into a compass, pointing down the street he was already traveling.

Cedric ran another three blocks before a loud roar caught his attention. He turned to see a giant black dog come barreling down towards him. It stopped about halfway down the street, holding position while several monstrous snake-like creatures flanked the monstrous hound, each carrying bronze weapons. A lone human walked in front of them, he wore bronze armor and carried a sword and a large circular shield. Almost like a modern version of a Spartan. He was bulky, his brown hair clean cut, almost militaristic, he held his helm in the hand which carried his shield.

“Demigod, surrender yourself to Lord Kronos, and live to fight another day.” He commanded, some of the snake creatures looked a little disheartened at the guy’s request, but that could just be their RBF, Cedric was not exactly sure what to make of the snake species other than the fact that it reinforced his dislike towards snakes.

Cedric inhaled deeply, internally cursing himself to agreeing to this. Gripping his wand tighter he pointed it towards a parked car on the side of the street. “ _Waddiwasi!”_ He shouted and flung the car at the assembled monsters.

The ‘human’ ducked just as it struck the large dog. He quickly placed his helm on as he looked taken aback by Cedric’s attack.

 _“Bombarda Maxima!”_ Cedric shouted and launched the exploding charm at the car, causing it to explode into a cloud of red and yellow fire and black smoke.

Cedric used a shield charm to protect himself from the debris. Once the cloud of smoke lifted Cedric started to back up once he saw the giant dog still on its feet, but a large portion of it looked to be badly damaged from the explosion. The snake like creatures were gone, but gold dust started to line the street, standing out from the white-gray ash and thick black smoke from the burning rubber.

Cedric looked back at the dog, which was literally licking its wounds and continued to lie on the ground, small whimpers escaping from it.

A portion of the destroyed vehicle started to move, and the armored guy used his shield to push the debris off himself.

“That was a nice trick, but you’re going to have to do better than that!” The Spartan kid shouted.

“ _Stupefy!_ ” Cedric shouted and a red bolt of light raced towards the armored guy. He quickly raised his bronze shield and the spell rebounded from it.

“ _Evanisco!”_ A female voice shouted from behind Cedric and the armored guy’s shield dissolved away.

Cedric turned around to see two people running towards Cedric. One male, the other female. The female held a wand while the guy wore similar armor to the ‘Spartan’, and he carried a bow with a sword sheathed at his side.

“Who are you?” The girl asked skeptically once they joined in line with Cedric.

“Uh, Cedric.” He nervously said, keeping an eye on his target, who was looking around, fazed by the disintegration of his shield.

“Lou Ellen, daughter of Hecate.” She introduced; her piercing green eyes made brighter by the contrast of her midnight dark hair. Cedric could have sworn the girl looked familiar, but he was too preoccupied to try and figure out who she reminded him of.

The boy shifted nervously on his feet as he knocked his bow and aimed it, “Malcolm, son of Athena.” He introduced, not taking his eyes off his target.

“Lou Ellen, your mother joined the winning side, come and see reason!” The armored guy yelled over the whining of the giant dog behind him.

Lou Ellen rolled her eyes, “That’s a little hypocritical coming from you Calvin. Since Ares is on _our_ side.” She retorted.

“Screw this.” Malcolm muttered and released his arrow at ‘Calvin’. Calvin side stepped and watched the arrow impale itself into the monstrous hound. The dog gave a soft whine before exploding into brilliant golden dust.

“I guess that works too.” Malcolm muttered before knocking another arrow.

“You’re going to pay for that brain-child!” Calvin shouted and quickly charged the trio.

Malcolm released another arrow, but it bounced harmlessly off Calvin’s chest plate.

“ _Stupefy!”_ Both Cedric and Lou Ellen yelled. Cedric’s spell missed the charging son of Ares, while Lou Ellen’s bounced harmlessly off his armor.

“His armor must be enchanted!” Lou Ellen yelled while the three split apart just as Calvin shoulder charged into Cedric.

He fell to the ground and casted a shield charm deflecting a sword swing.

Cedric rolled out of the way as Calvin brought his sword down again, impaling into the asphalt where he had just been.

Cedric casted several silent hexes hoping one would get passed Calvin’s enchanted armor. All of which were harmlessly deflected from the bronze armor.

Malcolm quickly charged the bigger teen, using his sword to lock with Calvin, who used his bigger physique to push Malcolm down to the ground.

“ _Bombarda_.” Cedric said and casted the small explosion at Calvin’s feet, knocking him off balance.

Cedric quickly ran over to Malcolm and helped him to his feet.

The other boy smiled up at Cedric as he got to his feet, his helm had fallen off, revealing his blond hair, and the dirt and blood that was mixed in with it.

“Thanks.” He said before quickly turning back to where the action was.

Calvin quickly got to his feet. “Okay new guy, neat trick.” He muttered, annoyance seeping into his voice. Calvin lunged at Malcolm and Cedric, using the pommel of his sword to punch Malcolm knocking him back and went to swing the blade of his weapon at Cedric, but Lou Ellen pushed Cedric aside.

“Then try this on for size!” Lou Ellen commanded, “ _Avada Kedarva!”_ She shouted and a bright green blast flew into Calvin knocking him to the ground, the life quickly evaporating from his body.

Cedric stood shocked and horrified at the sight before him. “What did you just do?” He finally asked staring at Calvin’s lifeless body.

Lou Ellen looked at Cedric confused. “I… ended the threat and saved your British ass?” She asked, clearly not sure at Cedric’s shock and confusion.

“That’s illegal. That’s an unforgivable curse. You can be sent straight to Azkaban. You-“

Lou Ellen held up her hand, “Hold up pretty boy. It’s illegal in Europe, MACUSA has ‘Stand your Ground’ laws in place. Completely legal to defend yourself with lethal force if necessary. It was a law passed during the eighties.” She said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “And you’re welcome. This is war Cedric, you either kill, or be killed.”

Cedric turned to Malcolm who quickly held up his hands in defense. “Don’t drag me into your sibling rivalry.” Malcolm quickly said.

Lou Ellen stared daggers at Cedric, “There is no way that you’re a son of Hecate.”

“That’s probably because I’m not. My mum’s… apparently Aphrodite.” Cedric replied.

Lou Ellen snorted. “Explains a lot, pretty boy.” Lou Ellen mocked.

Cedric’s face turned red at the nickname, “Stop calling me that.”

“Not a-“

“Malcolm!” A new voice yelled. The trio turned around to see a short blond kid sprinting towards the three. He looked to be about twelve years old, his leather armor clearly too big for him as it hung loosely against his body. He shrugged his shoulders to adjust the awkward material.

“Andy, what’s wrong?” Malcolm asked the boy.

“It’s Annabeth, she’s been shot by a poison arrow, they took her back to the hotel. But it’s not looking good. Percy looks like he’s about to flood the island because he’s so pissed.” Andy explained, but Malcolm started running full force towards the Plaza Hotel.

Lou Ellen and Cedric quickly chased after Malcolm, with Andy trying to keep up.

“Annabeth’s his half-sister, and pretty much our lead defensive strategist. If she die-if something happens to her… Then I don’t know what we are going to do.” Lou Ellen explained as the two quickly caught up with Malcolm.

Cedric looked over to the son of Athena, clearly distraught about the news of his sister. “I’m sure she’s going to be okay.” Cedric said as they continued to run down the quiet streets of New York.

Malcolm didn’t reply but shot him a glance that read ‘thanks’.

They kept running, but after another a minute or so Malcolm finally spoke. “You know, I’ve already lost one sister today, she was thirteen, Hellhound got her pretty good, she died in our makeshift infirmary. I know this is war and stuff, but, we’re just kids. Hell, even Percy, who’s supposed to be our leader literally just turned sixteen, today!” Malcolm ranted. Cedric did not really understand the names he was throwing around, but he understood the sentiment. “And we’re supposed to fight an immortal Titan and his army of Titans, gods, demigods, and monsters?” Malcolm yelled.

“Hey, we’re doing this because we’re the only ones who can. If not us, who?” Lou Ellen asked, running up to Malcolm’s left side.

Malcolm did not respond to her but glanced up to see the Plaza Hotel come into view.

The four quickly made their way into the fancy hotel. Dozens of teens crowded the lobby, all looking war torn and, in some cases, defeated. Andy stood back by the main entrance while the three quickly went up the stairs. A pretty girl with black hair nearly ran into them as she quickly ran down the stairs.

“Silena, where are you going?” Malcolm asked as he turned after the girl while walking up the stairs backwards.

“To get Clarisse to help!” She yelled back, not stopping.

“Silena Beauregard, your half-sister, and the head of the Aphrodite Cabin.” Lou Ellen explained.

“Cabin?” Cedric asked confused.

Lou Ellen sighed, “Explain later.” She whispered.

The three finally found the right floor and barged into a hotel room where a blonde girl was lying on a bed, her forehead covered in sweat and her skin deathly pale. A tanned, dark haired teen sat by her side, he too looked distraught, but unlike all the other kids Cedric saw on his way into the room, he did not have a scratch on himself.

“Annabeth.” Malcolm whispered running over to sit by his sister.

“They’re trying to track down Will Solace from the Apollo cabin.” The dark-haired teen said to Malcolm.

“Good, Will’s…if anyone can help her…” He said, taking Annabeth’s hand into his own.

The dark-haired teen left Annabeth’s side and walked over to Cedric and Lou Ellen. “Lou Ellen, how’s our northern flank?” He asked the witch.

“We ran into Calvin, son of Ares… We, erm, took care of him.” Lou Ellen said. Cedric snorted at the remark, which drew the other teen’s attention to him.

“I don’t think we’ve met, I’m Percy, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon if you haven’t heard.” He introduced, extending his hand to Cedric.

“Cedric Diggory.” Cedric said shaking his hand. “Oh, and son of Aphrodite.” He quickly tacked on.

“He’s also a wizard.” Lou Ellen added injecting herself back into the conversation.

Cedric sent her a sideways glare.

She shrugged her shoulders in response.

“Come again?” Percy asked.

“He can do magic, he’s a wizard, like me.” Lou Ellen explained.

“But I thought he was a son of Aphrodite, not Hecate.” Percy said, scratching the back of his head, clearly confused.

Lou Ellen shook her head, “I’m both a witch, and a daughter of the goddess of magic. My dad is a wizard, I got the magical part of my life from him and got the godly part from my mother.” Lou Ellen explained.

Percy still looked confused, not that Cedric was not confused either. “We can figure this out later, but first we have a bigger problem on our hands.” Percy said, turning to make sure Malcolm and Annabeth could hear him.

Annabeth tried to sit up a little, but Malcolm kept her down. “Nope, you stay still.” He ordered.

“Kronos has enough firepower to completely decimate all of New York, we can’t hold out without the Ares cabin, or better yet, the gods. We need-“

Percy was interrupted by a satyr barging into the room.

“Grover? What’s wrong?” Percy asked the winded satyr who was struggling to catch his breath.

“Percy, Thalia’s outside, she said a Titan wants to meet with you.” Grover told the son of Poseidon.

Percy nodded at Grover, “Great, let’s see what they want now.” Percy muttered and followed him out the door.

“So, what now?” Malcolm asked standing up from the Annabeth’s bedside after she had fallen asleep.

“Now, we prepare for war.” Lou Ellen said glancing at Annabeth’s sleeping form.

* * *

 **“ _Stupefy!”_** Cedric shouted and a jet of red light shot from his wand into a monster, rendering it unconscious. He quickly approached the snake-like creature and stabbed it with his sword, turning the monster to golden dust.

Cedric was surrounded by destruction as the demigods, along with a strange group of centaurs and the so-called ‘Hunters of Artemis’ attempted to beat back Kronos’s army.

Lou Ellen pushed passed Cedric, “ _Bombarda Maxima!_ ” She shouted and fired at a parked bus, making it explode, catching all the monsters either in the blast, or on fire.

“Gods, I really hope there weren’t any mortals on that bus.” She nervously stated before firing a nonverbal spell at another monster.

“I think I heard one of the centaurs say they cleared the street of all the muggles.” Cedric replied before firing a curse at a cyclops. “Not that you really care about a human’s life.” Cedric muttered.

Lou Ellen rolled her eyes at the snark remark. “Oh come on, you really need to get over that.” She complained while quickly yelling, “ _Expelliarmus!_ ” And disarmed an axe from a monster.

Cedric quickly followed up with the _Duro_ curse, turning the monster to stone.

“ _Reducto._ ” Lou Ellen said and reduced the stoned monster to dust. “Not bad pretty boy.” She said, patting the dust off her shirt.

Cedric glared at her. “Don’t. Call me that.” He ordered.

“You don’t need to get so triggered, come on, we need to buy Percy as much time as possible.” Lou Ellen ordered, and Cedric followed her across the hellish battlefield.

They fired off curses and used their bronze weapons to clear the path in front of them of monsters.

Cedric looked over and saw Malcolm attempting to fend off three dog like monsters, Telekhines if Cedric remembered from the quick crash course Malcolm had given him an hour earlier. Cedric grabbed Lou Ellen by her shoulder, “I’m going to go help Malcolm.” He said to her.

She nodded, “Go on, I’ll help Will and the other Apollo kids over there.” She said and the two-split going off in opposite directions.

Malcolm deflected a blow from a spear by one of the telekhines with his shield and used his sword to stab it in the chest. He quickly pivoted to block an oncoming strike by the second one.

“ _Petrificus Totalus!_ ” Cedric shouted and bound the third monster who attempted to stab Malcolm in the back. Malcolm quickly turned around to block the strike after destroying the other monster but lowered his weapon once he saw the monster locked in place and unable to move.

Malcolm quickly sliced the telekhine in the chest, disintegrating it before turning to Cedric. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” Cedric replied, flashing him a quick smile. Malcolm laughed slightly before dodging an arrow. Cedric pivoted and quickly fired a non-verbal spell back at the place where the arrow came from, hitting the monster and knocking it to the ground.

“Nice shot.” Malcolm said and pulled Cedric back just as a large bronze Warhammer smashed down where he had been standing. A cyclops held onto the large weapon and went in for another strike, but Malcolm leaped into the air and stabbed the monster in the eye, reducing it to dust.

Malcolm fell to the ground on one knee, coughing from all the monster particles swirling around him.

“That, was disgusting.” He laughed before another coughing attack came over him.

Cedric pointed his wand at the bronze hammer and transfigured it into a water goblet. “ _Agumenti.”_ He quickly said and filled the cup up with water before handing it the son of Athena.

He looked at the cup surprised before hesitantly taking it from Cedric’s hand. He quickly downed the water, “Thanks.”

Cedric nodded before a large rumble shook the ground.

“Great, what now? We can’t handle another drakon.” Malcolm asked looking around the battlefield nervously.

The harsh shaking caught the attention of everyone around the block, as both demigods and monsters halted fighting and looked south where a large wall of storm clouds approached the island. The wind started to kick up exponentially, so much so that it nearly pushed Malcolm into Cedric.

“Merlin, what is that?” Cedric asked shielding his eyes from a bright flash of lightning.

“It’s Typhon, god of monsters. If the gods can’t stop him before he reaches Olympus…”

“He’ll destroy everything.” Cedric said finishing Malcolm’s thought.

He nodded his head. Another loud crack of thunder shook the sky as a bolt of lightning struck the wall of clouds.

Kronos’s forces re-engaged the demigods moments later.

Cedric looked around for Lou Ellen, hoping to try something to at least slow down the large god heading for the city.

Cedric glanced over to see her firing off several spells at a group of harpies. She was using a large chunk of concrete as cover from arrows which were fired at her and a blonde kid with a bow who took cover with her.

“ _Lacarnum Inflamarae_ ” Cedric yelled and a firebolt struck another Cyclops while he ran towards the daughter of Hecate.

Cedric nearly ran into the girl as he slid behind the concrete wall.

“What?” Lou Ellen asked before standing up and quickly firing off another spell. She knelt back down and looked over at Cedric.

“Typhon, what if we tried some repello charms, it could buy the gods some time.” Cedric suggested shrugging his shoulders.

Lou Ellen looked like she wanted to disagree with him, but she glanced over to the battle between the gods. “Ah, what the Hades, we’re dead either way, right?” She laughed and blasted a monster that managed to get behind the concrete barrier.

“Hopefully, we’ll live through his.” Cedric laughed.

Lou Ellen quickly ran down the block and took cover behind a building, Cedric followed her quickly and stood up against the wall with her.

“Ready?” She asked pointing her wand towards Typhon.

Cedric nodded his head and started chanting the protection charms. “ _Protego Totalum, Repello Inimcium_.”

Lou Ellen also chanted the same incantations and small strains of magic left their wands and started to form a translucent barrier as close to the gods as they could get the spell to go. They kept repeating the charms, attempting to make the barrier as large as possible.

“Cedric, I don’t think this is going to work.” Lou Ellen quickly said in between spells.

“Just keep at it.” Cedric replied.

Lou Ellen fired another spell but quickly turned and pushed Cedric against the brick wall of the building behind them. Cedric nearly fell over in surprise, “What the Hell?” Cedric yelled.

“ _Stupefy!”_ Lou Ellen shouted and fired the red bolt of magic at a flying monster racing towards them. The creature fell at their feet. Cedric quickly stabbed it with his sword before looking up at Lou Ellen.

“You’re welcome.” She stated before turning back to look at their barrier.

“Let’s see if that’ll buy us any time.” Cedric said.

Lou Ellen snorted, “You're what, going into your fifth year at Hogwarts? I’m surprised you know any of those protection charms.”

“I will have you know, Gilderoy Lockhart was my Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and…he could only teach us the protection charm.” Cedric laughed. “Even though he was a complete fraud, he knew his charms.”

Lou Ellen raised her eyebrows at the remark. “Right.”

“And aren’t we like the same age? So why do you think you can play the high and mighty card?” Cedric asked, ignoring the complete fact that a gigantic monster was approaching the city.

“Can we argue about this later. We have bigger issues at the moment!” Lou Ellen yelled over the gusts of wind that started to pick up.

“Right. Of course.” Cedric replied. _‘Not like you weren’t the one to start this argument.’_ Cedric thought to himself sarcastically.

The two watched the gods try to hold Typhon before he could cross the river, but the gigantic monster kept continuing on before reaching the barrier. The wall of clouds halted right before entering the river.

The two demigods slowly turned to look at each other with their mouths open.

“There’s no way.” Lou Ellen whispered.

“That can’t be because us…Can it?” Cedric asked watching as Typhon stood just outside of the magical barrier.

“I don’t think it is because of us.” Lou Ellen muttered.

A large splash shook them out of their stupor and dozens of chains and anchors shot from the river and grappled onto the father of the monsters.

“Well, I guess Poseidon did decide to show up.” Lou Ellen muttered. “Come on, I think the gods got it from here.”

The magical barrier the two had produced quickly started to fade, shreds of the magical energy falling like wet paper.

“Well I guess it wouldn’t have held at all.” Cedric muttered and slowly started to follow the witch back to the main battle, but not before shooting one final glance at the battle between the gods. Cedric looked over to see his mother flying on the back of a flaming chariot, most likely riding with Ares, she held a staff which shot a wave of pink energy at Typhon. Cedric gave her a small wave; which he knew she couldn’t have seen but still made him feel better.

* * *

 **Cedric** waited in the lobby of the Empire State Building with Malcolm for Annabeth and the others to return from Mount Olympus. Cedric twirled his wand in between his fingers aimlessly, unable to keep still from the lack of activity.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Malcolm asked Cedric, noticing how he was struggling to keep still.

Cedric shrugged, “Honestly, I can’t even comprehend speaking to a god or gods. Like, what are you supposed to say to them?” Cedric laughed.

“At least Aphrodite appeared to you directly.” Malcolm muttered.

Cedric pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against and gave Malcolm a perplexed look.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Cedric asked.

Malcolm bit his lower lip, thinking of his words carefully. “It’s just, I’ve never met Athena, at least not directly. The only time she’s ever attempted to communicate with me was via messenger owl” Malcolm quietly said.

Cedric looked over to Malcolm, his mouth ajar slightly but not surprised by the goddess’s lack of attempt to actually communicate with him.

Cedric took in a deep breath before replying to the son of Athena. “Part of me wonders, if this whole Kronos thing hadn’t happened, if she would have ever bothered to contact me in the first place. She only found me that way she could use me.” Cedric said, looking down at the floor.

“A huge part of me wonders if she should have ever contacted me in the first place, because up until today, I knew who my mother was, and it wasn’t some Greek goddess.” Cedric said giving a pity laugh at his own statement.

“I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad or anything, and you’re right. I also wonder, like all the time…If my life would have been better suited being the preacher’s kid. Not having to worry about fighting monsters and doing quests for a bunch of lazy gods.” Malcolm started his tone getting angrier as he continued. “I-I don’t know anymore. Sometimes, I just want to throw in the towel.”

Cedric placed a reassuring hand on Malcolm’s shoulder. “We got through this. You got through this. And hopefully the world will take a break for a second and just let us live our lives.” Cedric laughed, full well knowing that he was never this lucky.

First, he had to deal with surviving the Chamber of Secrets opening up and a basilisk let loose on Hogwarts. Then just a couple of months later Siris Black escaped from Azkaban and was threatening not just magical Britain, but muggle Britain as well, and now he just survived a literal war between the Greek gods and Titans.

Malcolm nodded his head in appreciation from Cedric’s words. Though Cedric was not sure if it was genuine or not because he didn’t even fully accept the fact that the universe would give them a break. Especially for the kids that went to Camp Half-Blood. From the stories he picked up from Lou Ellen and Malcolm, the demigods at Camp Half-Blood had been through a lot, more so than what was supposedly typical for a demigod in the past few years.

The elevator at the other end of the lobby dinged and several people walked out of it, led by Percy. Chiron, a centaur galloped over to where Cedric was standing and extended his hand out. “My name is Chiron, I help train the demigods at Camp Half-Blood. I wanted to thank you for joining the battle, young child of Aphrodite.” Chiron introduced politely. Malcolm excused himself to meet up with Annabeth leaving Cedric alone with the Centaur.

“Of course, I was glad that I could help.” Cedric replied grasping Chiron’s hand and shaking it back. “I’m Cedric Diggory by the way.”

“Yes, your mother wished for me to invite you to stay at camp…If you so wish. She wanted you to have the opportunity to have proper combat training.” Chiron explained but held up his hand as soon as he saw Cedric about to protest.

“It won’t interfere with your studies at Hogwarts. Most campers tend to only stay during the summer holidays. And by no-means am I questioning your learning at Hogwarts. Albus and I have a history. I would trust him to teach any of my students.” Chiron said.

Cedric nodded his head, “I’ll consider it Mr. Chiron.”

Chiron allowed a small laugh to escape, “Chiron is just fine, but either way you decide, you will always be welcomed at Camp Half-Blood.” Chiron gave one final nod before trotting off through the main entrance.

“Hey, you coming back to camp with us?” Malcolm asked, surprising Cedric from his sudden appearance, Malcolm walked back to where he had been standing before Chiron showed up.

Cedric shrugged his shoulders. “I was just planning to go back home, I know my father’s probably freaking out because I’ve been gone so long as it is.”

“Well, you could come back to camp and use our landline to check in with him.” Malcolm suggested but it only brought a confused look from Cedric.

“What’s a landline?”

Malcolm tilted his head and stared at Cedric perplexed.

“You know, like a home-phone, the opposite of a cellphone…” Malcolm said trying to figure out if Cedric was joking with him or not.

“I’m assuming these are muggle contraptions?” Cedric asked.

Malcolm nervously laughed unsure what to say, “Yeah…?”

* * *

 **“So** , this is Camp Half-Blood.” Cedric observed glancing around the valley. Dozens of campers and other mythical creatures were scattered across the camp, some playing volleyball, shooting at the archery range, or even climbing up a large lava wall.

Most of the campers had returned directly after the battle, already looking to get back into the swing of their routine.

“It’s not much, but its home.” Malcolm replied.  
  
Cedric quickly turned to give the son of Athena a perplexed look. “Not much?” Cedric asked laughing a little.

“I’m sure that it doesn’t compare to a gigantic magical castle or anything.” Malcolm said trying to hide his sarcasm.

Cedric glared at the son of Athena before bursting out laughing. “I like it, this feels more…Independent. Don’t get me wrong, Hogwarts is my second home and I’ll die before I let anyone take it away from me. But Camp Half-Blood just gives me the impression that your trusted to be yourself. No overbearing professors giving you ridiculous homework assignments about things you will never use in the real world, meanwhile, I feel like you actually learn things that can help you in life here.” Cedric mused, looking over to the cabins that were arranged into the classic Greek Omega symbol ‘Ω’.

“I think that’s how its supposed to be, during the rest of the year you’re at school learning BS, and during the summer you go to camp to learn actual life skills.” Malcolm laughed.

Cedric cracked a smile. “I think you might have a point.”

“Don’t I always?” Malcolm sarcastically asked, brushing his shoulder up against Cedric’s slightly before starting to head down the trail towards the cabins. “Well, since you’ve decided to stay for a while, I guess I better show you the Aphrodite cabin.”

Cedric nodded as Malcolm led him towards the row of twelve cabins arranged in the Omega symbol. Each cabin was unique to each god. Most, Cedric could wager who belonged to who. Especially the Ares cabin. It looked like they were prepping for World War III.

Malcolm led Cedric to a cabin with a blue roof and checkered walls, and a pink door to cap it off. “I’m assuming this is the Aphrodite cabin.” Cedric said disparagingly.

“What tipped you off, the pink door?” Malcolm asked, the sarcasm dripping from his voice as he laughed at Cedric’s expense. “Drew Tanaka is the Head of the Aphrodite cabin…good luck.” Malcolm said, giving Cedric one last pat on the back before walking off in the opposite direction.

Cedric slowly walked up to the obnoxiously pink door before inhaling deeply and reaching for the door handle. Cedric hesitantly opened the door and was met by about half-dozen teens staring at Cedric.

“Well, who do we have here?” A pretty girl with dark hair and over done make-up asked, approaching Cedric.

“Your Cedric, right?” A boy wearing the signature ‘Camp Half-Blood’ T-shirt, his hair gelled to perfection, asked. But his tone was shy, almost hesitant to speak.

Cedric nodded at the boy before turning back to the girl, “I’m assuming you’re Drew?”

The girl smiled at him, “Ooh, and he’s British.”

“And your brother, be gross somewhere else.” The boy replied.

Drew shot him a deadly glare, making him wince.

The girl, in a way, started to remind Cedric of Draco Malfoy, her attitude just screamed attention seeking airhead.

“I’m Cedric Diggory.”

The boy approached Cedric before holding out his hand to shake, “I’m Mitchell, and this is Lacy, Bella, Gabriella, Diane, and Darcy.” Mitchell said pointing to the other girls in the room. Each of the girls gave a wave at Cedric.

Drew pushed Mitchell aside, “Now that Silena bit the dust…” Everyone in the cabin looked towards the ground at the mention of the late daughter of Aphrodite. She gave her life to try to stop the Drakon that had attacked them in Manhattan. But Drew continued, “We’re going to start doing things a little differently, isn’t that right?” She asked, but it was more of an order.

“Isn’t that right?” She asked again when no one responded to her.

Cedric suddenly felt the urgency to speak, it was as if Drew’s voice was commanding him to speak. Cedric would think that she was commanding him with the _Imperius_ curse if it were not for the fact that she did not have a wand in her hand.

"Yes." Everyone said at once.

“Okay good. Ladies, we have archery practice, we’ll let the boys get settled.” She said and proceeded out the door with several of the girls, Cedric’s sisters, following her, most muttering curses and some even threats towards their cabin leader as they walked past Cedric.

Once the final girl exited Mitchell released a deep breath. “Gods she’s awful.” Mitchell muttered falling down onto his bed.

“Why do you put up with her, it seemed pretty clear that none of the girls are thrilled with her being Head Consular?” Cedric asked the dark-haired boy.

“It’s not that simple, we couldn’t get rid of her if we wanted, she wouldn’t allow it.” Mitchell said.

Cedric gave him a confused look. “What do you mean?”

“Drew has the ability to use Charmspeak. Basically, it influences you to do what she says.” Mitchell explained.

“That sounds…”

“Abusive?” Mitchell threw in.

Cedric nodded his head.

“How long are you staying? The summer season is pretty much over, most of camp is leaving next week since school is starting up.” Mitchell asked, clearing a bunk for Cedric to put his things.

“That’s about when I’m leaving, I have to make sure I have time to get my school supplies and stuff.” Cedric said throwing the bag Chiron had given him with clothes and toiletries in the drawer underneath his bed. “Honestly, I only agreed to stay at all because Malcolm said I should.” Cedric laughed.

“Oh.” Mitchell said, his tone pitching upwards at the ‘revelation’.

“It’s not like that.” Cedric quickly said knowing what Mitchell was alluding too.

“Is it? So, you and Malcolm aren’t a thing?” Mitchell asked quickly falling onto Cedric’s bunk, forcing him to look directly at Mitchell.

“No, of course not. We just met. I mean he’s a really cool guy. And I doubt he’s into-“

“Stop. If you want another child of Aphrodite’s professional opinion. He’s definitely into…playing for the same team if you catch my drift.” Mitchell whispered, wiggling his eyebrows.

Cedric was confused at what Mitchell was trying to get at. “What team?”

Mitchell laughed for about ten seconds and then struggled to catch his breath, “Wait, you’re not joking?”

“Of course not, what are you talking about?”

“What century are you from? Okay, doesn’t matter.” Mitchell quickly said sitting up. “Malcolm’s definitely into you if he’s been hanging out with you this much and asked you to stay. Trust me.” Mitchell said.

Cedric gave him a questioning look. Not sure if he should take his half-brother’s word.

“How would you know?” Cedric asked defensively.

Mitchell started laughing. “I am the son of the love goddess; And we may or may not have had a make-out session or two over the summer.” Mitchell laughed getting off the bed.

Cedric quickly shook his head, “Wait what?”

“What? We got shit faced in Cabin Eleven. Fun fact, if you ever need anything that’s not exactly on the Dinning Pavilion’s menu, ask the Stoll brothers, they can smuggle in anything.” Mitchell whispered into Cedric’s ear before heading to the door. “If you don’t need anything else, I’m going to go pretend to be an archer for the next hour. Come join us once you’re settled.” Mitchell said opening the door.

“Oh, and one more thing. He’s definitely a good guy, and don’t fuck it up, because Annabeth will fuck you up, and not in the fun way. Comprede hermano?” Mitchell warned, ending by butchering the Spanish language.

Cedric gave him a thumbs up, shaking his head at the warning.

“Merlin, what have I gotten myself into?” Cedric asked himself before faceplanting onto his bed, not wanting to go join his cabinmates at the range.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter II: Just when Malcolm didn't think he could blush any harder, he does.**

**Malcolm Pace** nearly fell over when Annabeth charged into their cabin. Her face red with anger and tears streaming down her eyes. Malcolm assumed it was because her and Butch’s mission was a bust in Maine.

Annabeth has been attempting to track her boyfriend Percy Jackson down for the past few weeks. He had simply vanished in the middle of the night and no one has heard from him since. Everyone at camp knew the gods had something to do with his disappearance because it was not a coincidence with both Zeus closing Olympus off from the mortal world, and Percy Jackson, who is every god’s pain in the ass problem child, went missing. Every satyr Camp could muster went out looking for him and Annabeth has been leading the charge.

But so far nothing, not even an accidental tidal wave or earthquake Percy could have set off was detected.

Meanwhile, after Zeus had closed Olympus off, he had forbidden any gods from assisting demigods, which included Iris Messages. Hence, another reason why they could not track Percy down. Which leads everyone back to the predicament they are in now.

Annabeth fell onto her bed face first, head buried into her pillow and muffled cries coming from her. Charlie and Malcolm looked at one another and then back to Annabeth.

“I think Andy and I are going to head over to the Dinning Pavilion.” Charlie spoke up after giving another glance towards Annabeth.

“We are?” Andy asked, oblivious to the situation.

“Yes, you little twirp.” Charlie whispered and pulled him by the arm to lead him out of the cabin with Andy protesting on the way out.

Most of Cabin Six was abandoned for the non-summer season. For the most part it had just been Andy and Malcolm holding down the fort, but Charlie, who was about year younger than Malcolm had been spending the past month in New York visiting family, and he decided to stay at Camp for that time before his family headed back to California. And Annabeth would also be in California if it were not for Percy missing.

Malcolm waited for the two other boys to leave the cabin before sitting next to Annabeth on her bed. “Annie, I know you probably don’t want to talk about what happened, but we need to go over anything you might have found.” Malcolm gently said, grinning at the grunt of annoyance she gave him for using her nickname.

Annabeth’s head shot up and she looked directly at Malcolm. “Don’t call me Annie.” She said sternly before collapsing back onto her bed.

Malcolm was about to leave her alone, but she started talking into her pillow. “And no, we didn’t find any clues linking my theory about Maine to Percy.” She grumbled, at least that was Malcolm assumed she said. It was difficult to understand her mumbled voice in the pillow.

She sat up in her bunk, “I could have sworn that dream I had was relevant to Percy. I even saw the sign in my dream perfectly, Vinalhaven Island. Which is in Maine.” She said calmly, but her fists clinched as she looked over to her workspace in the cabin with a gigantic map of the U.S. There were already several red dots marking the map from where either Annabeth or anyone else who was searching for Percy. Most of which were centered along the East Coast. Annabeth begrudgingly got up off her bed and walked over to place another red mark on the island off the coast of Maine.

“We’ve had twenty searches so far in fourteen different states, and nothing has turned up, anywhere!” Annabeth yelled, kicking a bag that sat next to where she was standing across the room.

Malcolm quickly got up to wrap his sister in a hug and she started crying again into the crook of his neck. Though it was a little awkward because he was only an inch or two taller than her.

They stood like that for a few more seconds before Annabeth backed away slightly. “Gods, I hope nothing breakable was in that bag.” She laughed wiping the tear stains from her eyes.

“It was just Charlie’s. Probably more of his…special cookies.” Malcolm laughed making sure to use air quotes around ‘special’.

“Gods I swear, if Chiron ever catches him with those things.” Annabeth swore shaking her head.

“Typically, he leaves them with the Stoll’s, but point taken.” Malcolm laughed.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “Has anyone heard from Rachel about any other possible locations Percy could be at?”

Malcolm shook his head and reached for a folder on Annabeth’s desk marked ‘ **Operation Seaweed Brain’**. Inside were all the reports and leads they had on Percy. Mostly filled with the former, not many leads so far. “Maine had been our best lead in the past week. And none of the satyrs are reporting anything of value from their quests. Though Gleeson Hedge sent a message through a nymph that he might have stumbled upon something but nothing concrete. It could just be more unclaimed demigods.” Malcolm said reading off the notes Will Solace had filled out from Hedge’s report from yesterday.

“Where’s Gleeson stationed?” Annabeth asked.

“Some school out west, I think he mentioned going to the Grand Canyon for a field trip or something. But that’s about it.” Malcolm replied.

“I guess it’s possible for Percy to be all the way out there, but gods, I don’t think I have the strength to tear apart the entirety of the U.S. looking for him.” Annabeth muttered, sounding almost defeated.

“Assuming he’s in the U.S.” Malcolm said before he could stop himself. _‘Dammit’_. Malcolm thought to himself. “I’m sure he’s-“

Annabeth held up her hand to cut him off. “I know the possibility exists. I’m just…hoping.” Annabeth said, laughing at the last part. But it was a pity laugh because of the prospect that Percy could very well be anywhere around the world.

A pecking at the back window caught the two’s attention, preventing or perhaps saving Malcolm from trying to respond to Annabeth’s statement.

Malcolm slowly approached the window and cautiously opened the curtains. Malcolm nearly fell backwards in surprise by a large brown owl staring at him through the glass. Once he regained his bearings, Malcolm noticed a letter attached to the owl. Glancing at Annabeth, who motioned for him to open the window, Malcolm slowly unlatched the lock and pushed the glass up to allow the owl to hop onto the windowsill.

Malcolm slowly reached for the letter and kept his eye on the large bird as he slowly backed away.

“She’s not going to hurt you; she is our mother’s sacred animal after all.” Annabeth said in her ‘matter-of-factly’ tone.

Malcolm rolled his eyes, “No really, I had no idea.” He sarcastically replied. “I still wasn’t going to take the chance.” Malcolm muttered before looking at the envelope with his name written in large legible cursive.

Malcolm turned it over to see a red wax seal stamped onto the fold, with a giant ‘H’ in the middle of the seal. “I guess it’s from Cedric.” Malcolm thought aloud as he carefully undid the seal and pulled out several slips of parchment, with every inch written on in the same writing style as the front of the letter. He quickly flipped to the last letter to see that it was indeed from Cedric.

He quickly skimmed through it, promising himself to read it in full later, but without Annabeth hovering over his shoulder.

“So far, just catching me up on things that he’s been up too after the Iris Messages were shut down. And on the Siris Black fugitive. Oh, looks like he won-“

“Oh my gods!” Annabeth shouted making Malcolm drop some of the parchment in surprise.

“What?” He asked quickly picking up the pages and trying to put them back in order.

“What if Percy is in the magical realm? It’s possible!” Annabeth shouted in almost glee. “What do you think?”

Malcolm nervously eyed his sister and then the owl, not sure what to say. “I think anything, especially when it comes to Percy, is possible. But logically, it doesn’t make sense.”

“Doesn’t make sense, like someone kidnapping my boyfriend in the middle of the night… That kind of logical?” Annabeth asked, a judgmental tone escaping her lips.

“Hey, you asked.” Malcolm reminded her.

“I know, I know.” She muttered. “What else did your boyfriend have to say?’ She asked walking back over to her bunk to sit down.

Malcolm rolled his eyes at her, “For the umpteenth time. Not my boyfriend.”

Annabeth shrugged her shoulders, “Are you sure, because you two constantly Iris Messaged one another every chance you got. And rumor’s coming out of the Aphrodite Cabin claim that he has a thing for you.” Annabeth said wiggling her eyebrows. “But alas, I digress. Did mister tall, dark, and pretty have anything that could possibly hint that Percy could be on the other side of the Atlantic?”

“No, nothing…” Malcolm muttered, ignoring her comment about Cedric while looking through the parchment before stopping near the last page. “But he does ask how you and Percy are doing, so I guess that means he hasn’t heard about him missing.” Malcolm said looking up from the letter.

“When did he send that?” Annabeth asked quickly.

Malcolm looked through the parchment to see if Cedric had dated the letter. “Uh, a few days after Percy disappeared.”

“So, it’s possible Percy could be over there.” Annabeth said hopefully.

“Possible, but improbable. I have a feeling Percy’s disappearance has something to do more with the gods then the magical community.” Malcolm said trying to reason with his sister.

Annabeth sighed, “I’m just trying to find anything to keep me going.”

Malcolm put his arm around her, “Yeah, I know. I’ll send Cedric back a letter asking, but we should focus on this side of the world first.” He whispered before letting go of her.

Annabeth bent down to pick up a clean orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt and started to change into it without giving Malcolm any warning. He quickly covered his eyes with his hands. “Seriously a little warning would be great. Ew, ew-“

“Would you stop being such a girl. Gods you’re worse than Percy.” Annabeth said shaking her head after she threw the shirt on.

Malcolm uncovered his eyes a second later. “Wait. What do you mean I’m worse than Percy? Are you telling me that you’ve changed in front of him?” Malcolm asked, his protective brotherly instincts kicking in.

Annabeth only responded by rolling her eyes as she headed out the door. “I’m going to the Dinning Pavilion to get some lunch, are you coming?” She asked.

Malcolm looked down at the letter in his hand and then back up at Annabeth. “I’ll catch you later, I’m going to check something out.” Malcolm responded.

Annabeth nodded and closed the door behind her.

Malcolm quickly reorganized the slips of parchment and read through his letter from Cedric.

Mostly it was just the happenings of school and how he really liked his new _Defense Against the Dark Arts_ professor, some guy named Lupin. But Malcolm started laughing at the end of the letter where Cedric mentioned how he managed to ‘ _Beat Harry Potter to submission_ ’ in his match against the other Hogwarts ‘House’. But Malcolm flipped the last piece of parchment over to find a ‘P.S.’ that read, ‘ _We actually won by default, Harry and Gryffindor should have actually won._ ’

Malcolm smiled at Cedric’s witty writing before looking out the window to see Cedric’s owl calmly resting on the windowsill. Malcolm walked over to the bird before kneeling to be at eye level with the brown owl.

Malcolm, like all children of Athena had an empathic link with the sacred animal of his mother. Although he could not read their minds or communicate with it telepathically like Percy could with fish and horses, he could still get a general sense of how the creature was feeling, or what it was trying to say. And Malcolm could sense how tired and drained the animal was.

“I bet you are exhausted from traveling across the entirety of the Atlantic. I guess we better not inform PETA that Cedric had you flying across the ocean.” Malcolm said laughing at his own joke. The owl simply looked at him, almost in a judging way. But that could also be because he has known most owls to have a natural affinity to be judgmental.

Malcolm was prepared to write back to Cedric, but an idea popped into his head right before he could find paper.

“Owl, uh…stay here. I will be right back. I need to stop over at the Hecate Cabin!” Malcolm shouted to the owl as he sprinted out of the cabin and down the path towards Cabin Twenty.

Malcolm blew past a couple of campers as they were making their way towards the Dinning Pavilion and he quickly found the cabin he was looking for and quickly banged on the door.

A few seconds later Jamaal Ali opened the door, slightly annoyed. “What?” He asked looking down at Malcolm.

“Hey, has Lou Ellen come back from her boarding school or whatever yet?” Malcolm asked the eldest son of Hecate.

Jamaal shook his head, “She’s staying at Ilvermonry for Christmas break. We can pass along a message.” Jamaal said.

“Damn, I needed her help with something.” Malcolm cursed, more so talking to himself.

Jamaal gave him a curious look, “Why, is something wrong?”

“No-well yes, but-“ Malcolm ranted before taking a deep breath to calm himself. “It’s about Percy. I needed her to get me into Hogwarts that way we can see if he is over on that side of the world. It’s a huge longshot, but Annabeth thinks its worth a look.” Malcolm explained.

Jamaal stood aside and let Malcolm walk into the cabin which right now looked like a giant dormitory. Jamaal snapped his fingers and all the furniture started to shift and transform until there was only a fireplace sitting at the end of the room.

“If you say that this is about bringing Percy back, then we’ll do whatever it takes.” Jamaal said to Malcolm and eyed the fireplace. Malcolm gave him a curious look.

“You’re not trying to Hansel and Gretel me, are you?” Malcolm asked jokingly trying to defuse the tension.

“That is a seriously offensive stereotype.” Jamaal said seriously.

Malcolm face turned extremely pale and he started stuttering trying to defend himself. “I-I, didn’t mean-“

Jamaal just looked at him before cracking a smile, “I’m joking, stop being so uptight.”

Malcolm shook his head, “What’s with the fireplace?” He finally asked.

“It’s called the Floo Network. Basically, it will transport you to a destination of your choice, so long as the fireplace you are traveling too is apart of the network.” Jamaal explained.

“So…like fast traveling on a videogame?” Malcolm asked.

“Sure.”

“Okay, what do I do?” Malcolm asked cautiously looking at the unlit fireplace.

Jamaal reached over and grabbed a pot with a bunch of ash in it. “Take a handful and yell your destination, in this case it would be _Head of Thunderbird House, Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._ And it will take you to Lou Ellen’s room.” Jamaal explained.

“Wait. They have their own rooms, I thought they would have like, I don’t know, roommates or something?” Malcolm asked shrugging his shoulders.

“They do, but Lou Ellen is a head of house, so she gets special perks, and plus, even if she wasn’t a head of house, she would get special treatment just because of who her dad is.” Jamaal added. Malcolm nodded along. He did not exactly know how far up her father was in the American magical community other than the fact he was some bigwig with the MACUSA.

Jamaal held the pot out for Malcolm to take some ash, which he did and walked over to the fireplace.

“Speak loud and clear.” Jamaal ordered.

Malcolm nodded, “Head of Thunderbird House, Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!” Malcolm shouted and threw the powder down. An explosion of bright green flames, which looked similar to Greek Fire, surrounded him as he vanished before literally sliding out of another fireplace seconds later.

Malcolm started coughing from all the dust as he tried to stand up, with a very confused Lou Ellen Blackstone staring down at him.

“What the Hades are you doing here? And how did you get here?” She asked helping him off the floor.

Malcolm patted all the dust and ash off his clothes and wiped off his glasses. He quickly realized how cold it was and started to shiver since he was only in his T-shirt and jeans.

Lou Ellen rolled her eyes and pulled a robe out from her closet and gave it to Malcolm. He nodded his thanks to her and threw the warm fabric over his body.

“Again, what are you doing here, you know how much trouble we could get in if you’re caught!” She shouted.

Malcolm held up his hands in defense. “Jamaal let me barrow your fireplace back at camp. I need your help to get to Hogwarts.”

Lou Ellen let out a huff, “I am not your personal Uber for your booty calls!”

Malcolm’s face turned extremely red, “This has to do with Percy!” Malcolm quickly protested.

Lou Ellen shut her mouth trying to figure out what to say. “What makes you think Percy’s at Hogwarts?”

“I don’t, but Annabeth wants to make sure he didn’t end up in magical Britain, and since Cedric is really our only contact at Hogwarts, I figured I would check it out…because why not?” Malcolm weakly said.

Lou Ellen smirked at him, “You just want to go see Pretty Boy, don’t you?”

“You know he hates it when you call him that, and no. This is about finding Percy, and at the very least ruling out all the locations he’s _not_ at.” Malcolm said attempting to defend himself.

“Well, it just so happens that I don’t have anymore classes for the semester, and according to this…” Lou Ellen waved her wand and a piece of parchment flew over to her. “Hogwarts has a Hogsmeade weekend today, meaning we won’t even have to go into the school to track Pretty Boy down because I’m sure he’s enjoying a pint of butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks right about now.” She said, with every word going over Malcolm’s head.

“Okay, so can you get me there?” Malcolm finally asked.

“Yeah sure, whatever it takes to get Percy back, right?” She asked.

Malcolm nodded his head. Though he would be lying if he did not admit that her suddenly deciding to help him simply because he invoked Percy’s name bothered him slightly. But he let that go because Lou Ellen was going to take him to see Cedric and he could finally explain what was going on within the mythical world to him.

“Wait, before we go, can we stop back at camp that way I can get proper clothing, and to grab Cedric’s owl?” Malcolm asked.

Lou Ellen rolled her bright green eyes but agreed. “You’re not claustrophobic, are you?”

Malcolm shook his head in confusion, “Not really what does tha-Ahhh!” Malcolm shouted as Lou Ellen grabbed his arm and it felt like he was being shoved through a pinhole. A second later he was standing in the middle of his cabin.

“What-?“ Malcolm asked looking around in shock, “Was that?”

“Apparation, typically you need to be seventeen before you can even take the test, but my dad pulled some strings, and my mom being who she is… it just comes naturally to me.” Lou Ellen said nonchalantly.

“Mhmm, whatever you say.” Malcolm muttered and searched his drawers for his winter coat, scarf, gloves, and his orange beanie.

“Will I stand out too much wearing all this?” Malcolm asked the witch as he put everything on and tossed the robe Lou Ellen had given him onto his bed. He was not exactly sure what was wizard appropriate clothing.

“No more than you usually do.” She said with her typical snark.

Malcolm rolled his eyes and walked over to the owl attempting to use his empathic link with it to make sure it would not try to claw him to death. “Come on, I’m going to take you to Cedric.” Malcolm told the owl.

She fluttered her wings at the mention of Cedric’s name and hopped onto Malcolm’s waiting arm.

“Ready?” She asked.

Malcolm gulped before nodding yes. “For the record, I like the fire travel more.” He said right before he grabbed Lou Ellen’s arm.

“Okay, cool.” She stated and with a crack the two teleported into a snowbank.

Malcolm struggled to pull himself onto a cleared pathway a foot or two from where they had landed. Yet again he found himself trying to clean off his clothing because of ‘magic’ travel.

Cedric’s owl gave a startled hoot before flying away towards a large castle, which it in on itself looked like a city from where Malcolm was standing. He could not describe how majestic the castle, even from this distance, just how spectacular it looked.

“Yeah it’s a castle, overrated if you ask me.” Lou Ellen suddenly spoke up from behind Malcolm.

Malcolm scoffed but did not reply to her comment, “Where too?”

“We’re in Hogsmeade right now, if Cedric came down from the castle, he’ll probably be hanging out in the sweet shop Honeydukes or the Three Broomsticks. It’s a pub where most of the Hogwarts kids hang out.” Lou Ellen explained as they headed into town.

Malcolm was amazed at the old-timey feeling he got from the village. From the objects that moved by themselves, to the animated snowman throwing snowballs at a couple of kids.

“How do you know so much about this place?” Malcolm asked, while he stared at a street performer juggling fireballs.

“My dad brought me to Hogsmeade a few times over the years. It’s also the only wizarding village left in Britain.” She said as they were nearly ran over by a giant man pulling a sled with two people in the back. They stopped at the next building, which looked to be an inn of some sort.

“Pardon me!” The giant man yelled back to Lou Ellen and Malcolm.

“It’s fine.” Lou Ellen replied, but Malcolm could hear the slight hint of annoyance in her voice.

“Oh, Minister, allow me!” The large man yelled and pulled the door clean off the hinge on his carriage as an older man and woman exited the carriage.

“Shit.” Lou Ellen cursed.

“What?”

“That’s Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic.” She whispered as she slowly started to back up.

“Is that a bad thing?” Malcolm asked unsure why she was worried about the old man. Malcolm was more surprised that they had managed to come across such an important British politician.

“It will be-“ Lou Ellen started. Malcolm looked over and saw that the minister had noticed the two of them.

“Merlin, is that you Ms. Blackstone, come here, it has been far too long?” He called to Lou Ellen.

Lou Ellen quickly put a smile on. “Hello Minister, it has been too long.” She greeted shaking his hand.

“Yes, yes. How is your father?” He asked loudly and interrupted Lou Ellen before she could respond. “You know what? I’m going to invite both you and your father to be my personal guests at the Quidditch World Cup next summer. Britain is hosting for the first time in almost thirty-years. I will make sure to send a formal invite to your father’s office.”

Lou Ellen nodded along. “That sounds…wonderful.” She replied.

“Oh, Ms. Blackstone, this is Hogwarts’ Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall.” The Minister added gesturing to the gray-haired woman. “Minerva, this is Thomas Blackstone’s daughter, Lou Ellen Blackstone.”

Minerva walked over to shake Lou Ellen’s hand. “Pleasure to meet you Ms. Blackstone.”

Malcolm turned his head back towards the inn when he heard the bell ring from the door opening. “Minister! How on Earth do you expect us to stay in business with all of them damn dementors sulking about. You’re scaring all my patrons away!” A tall blonde woman yelled storming out of the Three Broomsticks.

“Ah, Madam Rosmerta you know I take the security precautions around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade extremely seriously.” He responded.

“You really don’t think that Siris Black would be dumb enough to come here do you?” She asked.

Minerva turned to face Fudge before he spoke up, “He has every reason to come here.” He whispered.

“Why?” Rosmerta asked, her voice even louder if possible.

“Because he’s in league with, You-Know-Who, and he’s after the boy.” Fudge whispered again.

“What boy? You don’t mean Harry Potter, do you?” She asked with the same tone. Both McGonagall and Fudge tried to hush her.

“Let’s take this inside, shall we?” Fudge motioned for the two adults to head inside the Three broomsticks. “Ms. Blackstone, are you joining us?” He asked Lou Ellen.

Lou Ellen bit her lip before nodding along. “I’ll be right behind you.”

She quickly turned to Malcolm, “Honeydukes is right over there, if he’s not there then he’s probably in the pub. Goodluck.” She said before begrudgingly following the Minster of Magic.

Malcolm waited for her to enter the inn before turning around to head for the sweet shop, but he was nearly pushed over by an invisible force. ‘ _Well that was strange.’_ Malcolm thought to himself as he regained his balance. He looked back behind himself to see the inn’s door open and close, but no one entered or exited. ‘ _Curious._ ’ Malcolm thought to himself.

“Excuse us!” A girl yelled at Malcolm as she and red-haired boy headed for the inn pushing pass him.

“Well everyone’s in a rush.” Malcolm muttered to himself and walked across the snow-covered path to a quant little shop with a bunch of assorted candies and chocolates decorating the windows.

Malcolm hesitantly pushed the door opened and was met with a small crowd of teens running along the aisles of candies.

Malcolm headed for the back of the store before he saw a group of boys wearing matching black and yellow scarfs near a shelf filled with chocolates. Malcolm knew that Cedric’s house colors were black and yellow, which was why he attempted to peer into the group to try and find Cedric’s signature messy hair.

Malcolm kept looking around the group unable to find anyone he recognized.

“Whatch-ya looking for?” Someone whispered in his ear making Malcolm jump and let out a slight yelp.

Malcolm turned around to see Cedric laughing at his displeasure. He looked around and saw some of the other teens giving him a curious look before they went back to whatever they had been looking at before. Malcolm grabbed Cedric’s arm and pulled him to an empty aisle. “How did you recognize me with my back turned?” Malcolm asked.

Cedric laughed before pointing to Malcolm’s beanie.

Malcolm quickly pulled the hat off his hair and turned over the bright orange hat and saw ‘CHB’ written on the brim with a black pegasus stitched next to it.

“Oh.”

Cedric started to laugh again, “What?”

“Your hair.” He laughed.

Malcolm quickly put his beanie back on, his face flaring red. “Better?”

Cedric bit his lip trying to contain his laughter.

Malcolm’s face and shoulders deflated as he sighed. “What now?”

Cedric gently took Malcolm’s hat off and flipped it around before placing it back on his head.

“Now, that’s better.” He softly said and patted the top of Malcolm’s head.

Malcolm could feel his face heat up even more if that was possible. He pushed on the bridge of his glasses to straighten them up trying to distract himself.

“Not that I’m not grateful for you showing up here, but how and why are you here?” Cedric asked while glancing around store. He quickly smiled and waved at someone before turning his attention back to Malcolm.

“Well aren’t you a popular guy.” Malcolm observed staring at a group of girls vying for Cedric’s attention.

Cedric started to laugh softly, “I guess.” He looked at the group of girls before turning back to face Malcolm. “You want to go on a walk to talk?” He asked noticing that there were more eyes on them than Malcolm would have wanted.

Malcolm nodded and let Cedric lead the way out of the sweet shop.

“Hi Cedric.” The group of girls swooned. Cedric flashed them a smile while Malcolm rolled his eyes.

Cedric opened the door for Malcolm and motioned for him to go ahead of him. “What a gentleman.” Malcolm laughed as he walked into the bitter cold.

Cedric walked up alongside him as they started walking down the snowed over paths.

“So, how did you get all the way over here?” Cedric asked after a minute of walking in silence.

“Lou Ellen, she’s in the Three Broomsticks. We ran into the Minister of Magic and a Professor McGonagall. Apparently, the Minister and Lou Ellen’s dad know one another.” Malcolm said shrugging his shoulders.

Cedric squinted his eyes, “Who is her father?” He asked loudly, almost like he was asking the gods themselves.

“I guess some bigwig with the magical government.” Malcolm supplied, not sure himself why everyone was obsessed with her dad.

“That still doesn’t explain how you got here.” Cedric said.

“Lou Ellen did her evaporation trick.” Malcolm said.

Cedric tilted his head at Malcolm and looked like he was holding back a laugh. “She tried to what?” He asked.

“I don’t know, evaporate. I didn’t press the question, one second we were in the Athena Cabin, and the next I’m in a pile of snow halfway across the world.” Malcolm cried trying to defend himself.

“I think you mean _apparation_ , and I’m just teasing.” Cedric said bumping Malcolm’s shoulder.

“Anyways, Lou Ellen was like, _‘I guess anything for Pretty Boy_ ’ or something to that affect.” Malcolm laughed trying his best impersonation of Lou Ellen, but quickly stopped when he saw Cedric looking down at his feet.

“Sorry, I know you hate that nickname, I wasn’t trying to make fun of you.” Malcolm quickly said.

Cedric shook his head, “No I know, it’s not that.” He sighed. “I need to get over it honestly. It’s stupid.” He muttered.

Malcolm stopped in front of him and turned to face him. “I bet it’s not. What is it?” He asked.

Cedric looked around and led Malcolm to a snow-covered bench in a small park across the road. He waved his wand and the snow melted off the bench and he sat down on it. Malcolm gently touched the bench to make sure it was not wet before he sat down next to him.

Cedric’s foot started to tap quickly as he tried to figure out what to say. “I-Okay, so, I’ve actually never told anyone this, so-“

Malcolm noticed hands shaking violently. He quickly grabbed them out of instinct. “It’s okay. Take your time.” Malcolm said.

Cedric nodded before taking a deep breath in. “When I was in my Second Year, I started… ‘dating’ this older guy. A seventh year. He was seventeen, I was thirteen and naïve.” Cedric started. “He was the Keeper on our quidditch team, and our house Prefect and his pet name for me was _Pretty Boy_.” Cedric started; he did not look up as he spoke. “Mostly it was just make-out sessions either behind the stands on the pitch, or in the Prefect bathroom. Hence how I knew where to and how I managed to Iris Message you so much. Which also brings the question on what happened to that?” Cedric asked finally looking up to Malcolm.

“Keep going, we’ll get to that.” Malcolm said.

Cedric nodded and continued, “So, we did that for a while. Secret meet ups after class or practice and spend a load of time just getting a little handsy and make-out. But that changed towards the end of the year.” Cedric sighed as he looked away from Malcolm. “We were the last ones to finish up practice, and we were in the locker room, the only ones in there. And-and he wanted to do a little bit more.” Cedric said, his voice shaky and he started to tremble again.

“We can stop if you want.” Malcolm uncertainly said, not sure if he should have Cedric stop or if he should keep going. Typically, he could consul campers through bad experiences with war and monsters, but this was a topic on a whole different level.

“No, I-I need to get this out.” Cedric muttered before continuing. “He pushed me up against the wall and started to kiss me, violently, while he continued to get undressed. And the next thing I know I’m sitting on my knees, and I was just, I don’t know…petrified? And I guess you can picture the rest.” Cedric whispered, he untangled his hand from Malcolm’s to dab his eyes before looking back up, staring at the building directly across the street. Not daring to meet Malcolm’s eyes.

“Cedric, I, I don’t know what to say.” Malcolm replied weakly, “Just that, I’m sorry-“

But Cedric interrupted him, “And I mean, I never said no, I couldn’t, I just froze…”

“Ced. It does not matter if you said no or not. You should have never been put into that position. He should have never put you in that kind of situation. You were taken advantage of.” Malcolm said gently.

Cedric slowly turned back to look at Malcolm who flashed him a small gracious smile. “Thanks.” He said after a minute. “I’m sure you have other things you want to talk about other than my personal problems.” He joked.

“I will listen to your personal problems whenever you need me too. But, you’re right. There’s a lot going on with the Olympians.” Malcolm started.

Cedric nodded his head and motioned if Malcolm wanted to walk while they talked to make sure no one would overhear them.

Malcolm nodded and the two got off the bench and headed back onto the path.

“Firstly, Zeus has closed off Mount Olympus. No one goes in or out. He recalled all the gods and forbid any communication between demigods and the gods. Which includes Iris Messages.” Malcolm explained. “And before you ask why, we don’t know. Annabeth and Chiron think it has something to do with the new prophecy Rachel gave after the Second Titan War.”

“What does Percy think?” Cedric asked.

Malcolm snorted and gave an audible sigh. “Hence the primary reason why I’m here.” Malcolm started.

Cedric tilted his head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Percy’s missing. He’s been missing for a few weeks now, and Annabeth has been tearing the eastern seaboard a new one trying to find him. She’s under the impression that he could be in the magical world. But I and the Hecate campers doubt it. I just came really to rule it out for her.”

Cedric bit his lip, trying to suppress some laughter. “And here I thought you came all this way just to see little ol’ me.” Cedric laughed.

Malcolm blushed slightly, but he would say it was because of the frigid air. “That was just an added bonus.”

“Uh-huh, sure.”

Malcolm rolled his eyes, “So, I guess that means you haven’t seen Percy around?”

“Nope, but you do realize that magical Europe is…all of Europe right?” Cedric asked gesturing with his hands to make his point.

“Yes, Cedric. I realize that magical Europe includes all of Europe. But I don’t think Percy has left North America, much less the Western Hemisphere. I think it has something to do with the gods, and the gods really only operate in the U.S. And on occasion Canada.” Malcolm stated defensively.

Cedric held up his hands in defeat. “Okay, okay. Was just making sure.”

Malcolm sighed, again. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap. It’s just… This whole Percy thing has everyone on edge.”

“Hey I get it. That’s how it is here too, with Siris Black on the prowl and all.” Cedric said.

Malcolm blinked remembering the minister’s conversation with Rosmerta. “Yeah, Minister Fudge said something about Siris hunting down that Harry kid for a guy who they literally called, You-Know-Who.” Malcolm laughed rolling his eyes at the mysteriousness everyone was giving.

Cedric frowned and stared directly at Malcolm. “Siris Black is hunting Harry for You-Know-Who?” Cedric asked seriously.

“That’s what he said, and no. I don’t know who You-Know-Who is.” He responded and added, “Try saying that five-times fast.”

Cedric used his hand to rub his temples and sighed.

“What?” Malcolm asked confused. “Seriously. Who’s You-Know-Who?”

Cedric quickly looked around. His eyes moving fast looking around the empty street. Once he was satisfied that no one was around he leaned in to whisper in Malcolm’s ear. “Lord Vol-“ He gulped, “Lord _Voldemort_.”

Malcolm’s face scrunched up inadvertently trying to decipher if Cedric was serious or not. “What kind of name is Voldemort?”

Cedric quickly clapped his hand over Malcolm’s mouth. “Sorry, sorry.” He quickly apologized and removed his hand from Malcolm’s mouth. “It’s just that, don’t go around saying his name. It’s a cursed name. He did a lot of bad things.” Cedric explained.

“Don’t mention Wizard Hitler’s name. Got it.” Malcolm replied glancing at Cedric to make sure he had not crossed another line.

Cedric nodded and kept on walking down the path until it wrapped back around to the town square where they had started.

Cedric led Malcolm to the Three Broomsticks and once again held the door for him to enter.

It was a large pub with many tables and booths, almost all filled with patrons of all ages. It was not dominated by the students from Hogwarts like Honeydukes had been. Older witches were gathered at a large table and looked to be gossiping while a group of older wizards sat at the bar conversating with the bartender.

“Hello Cedric.” A pair of twins who looked to be about thirteen greeted walking pass the two.

“Mrs. and Mrs. Padtil.” Cedric greeted back. They both giggled as they walked out the door.

“There’s Lou Ellen.” Malcolm said pointing to a booth towards the back where the daughter of Hecate sat sipping on an orangey-yellow beverage in a large glass.

The pair quickly walked over and sat down across from her.

She looked up just as they climbed into the booth.

“Oh good. You two are done being lovey-dovey with each other.” She said flatly.

Both boys shook their heads, “What is that even supposed to mean?” Malcolm asked the witch as she went back to sipping on her drink.

She shrugged her shoulders, but then her eyes widened and slammed her glass down making some of the people sitting around them glance towards their direction, but they all looked away a second later.

“What?” Cedric asked.

“You are never going to believe what I just found out.” She said excitedly.

“This can’t be good.” Malcolm muttered as he crossed his arms across his chest.

“So, I got dragged into that meeting with Fudge right. And that transfiguration professor of yours… She said that…” She leaned in across the table, “Siris Black is Harry Potter’s godfather.” She whispered.

Malcolm had no reaction; he only knew the names from when Cedric had talked about them during their Iris Messages. The news obviously meant something to Cedric because his eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets.

“You’re joking. That’s absurd, Siris Black was best buddies with… You-Know-Who. Why would he be Harry Potter’s godfather?” Cedric asked.

Lou Ellen shrugged her shoulders. “That’s something you’re going to have to ask the Minister and that McGonagall lady.”

“Why don’t you ask? Since, you know, you’re best mates with the Minister of Magic.” Cedric replied. “And why is that? Why are you so close with…Everyone?” Cedric asked gesturing with his hands, nearly hitting Malcolm in the face with his left hand. “Sorry.” He quickly apologized.

“It’s fine.” Malcolm whispered back.

“If you must know…” Lou Ellen stated as she cracked her knuckles. “I assume Fudge is trying to suck up to my father because of the trade negotiations going on between the MACUSA and the Ministry. If Fudge screws up the negotiations with my father, then he can kiss the Trans-Atlantic Trade Deal goodbye. And with that, his reelection.” Lou Ellen said matter-of-factly. “Which also explains the reason why he invited us to the World Cup…” She thought aloud.

“Wait he-“

Lou Ellen cut him off. “So, I guess no Percy?” She asked looking at Malcolm. He shook his head ‘no’.

“Well, glad to know this was a complete waste of our time.” She muttered.

Cedric scoffed at the remark. “Glad to know you think so much of me.”

Lou Ellen rolled her eyes, “Don’t get your panties in a bunch Pretty Boy.”

“Lou.” Malcolm hissed, trying to give her a look to ‘cut it out’.

Cedric placed a reassuring hand on Malcolm’s shoulder and shook his head. “It’s fine.” He whispered.

“Oh, my gods you two are so gross, just one of you kiss the other and make it official or something. Gods I hate dealing with Aphrodite kids.” Lou Ellen groaned gently banging her head onto the table.

Both Cedric and Malcolm blushed and looked at one another unsure of what to say.

Lou Ellen slid out of the booth and quickly downed the rest of her drink. “I’m going to be waiting right outside. I’m leaving in five minutes with our without you.” Lou Ellen ordered and walked out of the pub, pushing herself through another set of twins. ‘ _What is it with this place and twins?’_ Malcolm thought to himself as he watched the two tall red headed boys give Lou Ellen a annoyed look.

“Well. That just happened.” Cedric said. Malcolm could not tell if he was shocked or just handling Lou Ellen’s assertion really well. “I would be lying if I didn’t say that I wouldn’t mind her leaving you here.” He added, laughing a little.

“Yeah, I can see why you love it here so much.” Malcolm said as he turned to put his back up against the wall of the booth and pulled his knees up that way, he could face Cedric.

“I guess we’ll need a new way to communicate since we no longer have Iris Messages, and I don’t think Quin will be too appreciative if I made her fly across the Atlantic over and over again.” Cedric laughed.

“Do you have one of those Floo fireplaces, I’m sure I can barter with the Hecate kids to let me commandeer it for an hour or two.” Malcolm laughed.

“Not at Hogwarts, but that gives me an idea.” Cedric said, Malcolm could almost see the gears turning in Cedric’s brain. “Do you have a fireplace of some type? It doesn’t have to be connected with the Floo Network?” Cedric asked, almost giddily.

“Um… Kind’a, it’s pretty much boarded up and it hasn’t been used since before I got to camp. Chiron uses the magic from Thalia’s Tree to keep everything inside the barrier climate controlled. We only let it snow when we want to do winter training. No need for a fireplace.” Malcolm explained. “But I’m sure I can get access to the one in the Big House if worse comes to worse. Why?”

Cedric flashed him a smile. “I might know a spell or two that can solve our whole communication problem, but I’ll need to see if I can get it to work, it’s a fairly complex charm.” Cedric said, and he turned his head to see Lou Ellen waving through the slightly frosted over window, while pointing at her wrist like she was wearing a watch.

“Looks like my ride is ready to go.” Malcolm muttered.

Cedric stepped out of the booth that way Malcolm could get out. Cedric grabbed Malcolm’s arm and pulled him, helping him slide out of the tight space.

Malcolm looked up at Cedric, biting his lip not sure what to say.

“Yeah, me too.” Was all Cedric said before lightly punching his arm making Malcolm laugh a little.

“Stay safe, and I guess, we’ll talk later?” Malcolm asked.

“You too, and yes. Definitely.” Cedric said.

Malcolm gave him one last nod before turning around and made his way towards the door.

“Malcolm. Wait.” Cedric called after him.

Malcolm quickly stopped and pivoted to face Cedric who quickly walked after him.

“Maybe, once everything calms down with school and the whole Percy thing. Maybe-…there’s this really nice pub not too far from house, and maybe-“

“Yes.” Was all Malcolm said and gave Cedric a quick hug and quickly exited the pub before Cedric could say anything. A smirking Lou Ellen was waiting for him outside.

“He finally ask you out?” She asked.

“No idea what you are talking about.” Malcolm stated reaching for her arm.

“That’s not what that smile says.” She replied before a loud ‘crack’ sounded and Malcolm was once again hit with the sensation of being pushed through a pinhole as they reappeared in the Athena Cabin.

“Ahhh!” Charlie yelled as he fell onto the floor.

“Hey Charles.” Lou Ellen greeted and left the cabin not answering his stuttering.

“Where have you been?” Charlie asked Malcolm, “And what the Hades was that? You just appeared. Like magic.” He said, wiggling his fingers for effect.

Malcolm studied Charlie’s eyes and rolled his own. “Charlie?” He looked up at Malcolm at the mention of his name. “Are you seriously high right now?”

Charlie started laughing, “No.” Then he looked up again, “Well, yes. A little.”

Malcolm sighed and headed for the door.

“Oh, and Annabeth got a new lead on Percy.” Charlie called after him. “She and Butch are heading to the Grand Canyon. She said something about Rachel saying to go there or something.”

Malcolm stopped at the doorframe. “Charlie. Next time. Lead with that bit of information.” Malcolm stated and proceeded out the door to see what Chiron knew about Annabeth’s new quest to track down Percy.

_‘Here we go again.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> May the Force be with you and may the odds ever be in your favor.


	3. If the KKK were wizards, wore black, and openly admitted to wanting to eat Thanatos

**Chapter III: If the KKK were wizards, wore black, and openly admitted to wanting to eat Thanatos.**

**Cedric Diggory** bit back a yelp as Will Solace, son of Apollo and Camp Half-Blood’s resident teen MD poured a vial of liquid on his burn wound.

Just hours earlier Cedric thought the end of the world was upon them…again. Gaia had risen and the Romans had started their siege on Camp Half-Blood. But just as things looked like they were going to take a turn for the worse, Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, daughter of the Roman goddess of War Bellona, appeared with the Athena Parthenos and brokered the peace between the Greeks and the Romans. From there on out, the Romans and Greeks fought side by side defeating Gaia and her monster army, along with a giant bronze dragon that flew directly into Gaia destroying her, just when Cedric had thought that he had seen it all.

He remembered how surprised he was that he was not surprised when Malcolm had informed him of the existence of the Romans during their first fireplace chat after they met up in Hogsmeade before Christmas. But not much else happened for Cedric during that time. Siris Black had been captured at Hogwarts towards the end of the year, but he had escaped and was on the run…again.

Cedric had constant updates from Camp during the summer, but he did not get involved until a week earlier when Lou Ellen had appeared randomly in his room practically kidnapping him. ‘ _What is it with women coming into my room and kidnapping me?’_ Cedric had thought to himself at the time. If someone had said that multiple women would kidnap him a year or two prior, he would be all for it. Now it was just inconvenient

He still had not informed his father that he went back to camp. Lou Ellen only had to say that she needed his help and that was that. He knew things were serious when Lou Ellen was asking _him_ for help. And since he had just turned seventeen, and had received his apparation license, he really did not see a reason why he shouldn’t or couldn’t go.

“Stop squirming, you’re only making it hurt more.” Will ordered drawing Cedric out of his thoughts. The son of Apollo continued to pour the substance onto his injuries.

Cedric held back a slew of curses once he had emptied the contents of the vial on his arm. Will threw said empty vial in a waste basket sitting next to the cot Cedric was laying on. He proceeded to grab an ambrosia square and handed it to Cedric to eat.

Will closed his eyes as he sighed, “Di Angelo, I swear to your father if you try to get up one more time!” Will yelled, not turning around to look at the son of Hades who was attempting to sit up from his cot.

Cedric turned his head to see Nico bang his head on his pillow, frustrated that Will had caught him.

“I’m fine Solace.” Nico grunted.

“If your definition of fine is nearly phasing out of existence, then by all means, you are fine.” Will replied with a sneer that would rival Snape.

Nico let out a loud sigh before muttering a string of curses in Italian.

“The disrespect.” Will sarcastically said to Cedric which made him laugh.

“Ow, ow, ow.” Cedric gasped in pain. “Please don’t make me laugh.” Cedric weakly said to an apologetic Will.

“After you finish your ambrosia square drink this nectar and you should be good to go within the hour.” Will said writing on his clipboard before placing a small vial on the table next to Cedric’s cot.

Cedric nodded as he slowly sat up to eat the small square.

Will turned back to Nico and picked up a clipboard at the end of his cot and started reading through it.

“Solace let me go. You can’t hold me here.” Nico ordered grunting in pain as he tried to sit up.

Will did not acknowledge his complaints. “Hey Ced, did you hear something?” Will asked looking over to Cedric who quickly looked between Nico and Will.

Nico rolled his eyes, “Will, I swear to Hades.” Nico warned but it did not phase the son of Apollo.

“I swear I hear this buzzing sound, like…like it’s trying to tell me that it knows more about medicine than I do.” He said pointedly looking directly at Nico. “But that’s insane, because out of the people in this room, only two of us have the god of healing as our father. And Amber’s treating Pollux so it’s not her.” Will said walking closer to Nico trying to get his point across to the son of Hades.

“Ugh you’re impossible, fine you win.” Nico groaned and laid back down on his cot.

Will quickly smiled and went to tend to some of the other campers. Nico continued to mutter in Italian and turned away facing the other wall. Cedric’s lip quivered as he tried to reframe from laughing at Nico’s displeasure.

He liked the kid, even though they had just met. But he had a warrior’s heart, even if the unhealthy amount of black he wore was a little unsettling for a fourteen-year-old.

Cedric looked down to his arm and saw it starting to heal over. The burn marks were lighting up and were now a pink color compared to the dark melted red they were a few minutes earlier.

“Oh my gods. What happened?” Cedric heard Malcolm yell and turned to see him quickly walk over to him, nearly pushing Amber over as he passed her.

“Watch it Brain Boy!” The other blonde yelled.

Malcolm quickly apologized and pulled a chair over to sit next to him. “Gods, she’s scary for a thirteen-year-old.” Malcolm to whispered.

“I heard that.”

Cedric laughed at Malcolm’s displeasure before wincing in pain.

“Okay whatever, TJ’s a whole lot more tolerable than you.” He muttered about the girl’s twin brother before turning his attention back to Cedric. “What happened? I literally turned around and you were being dragged away by Lou Ellen.” The concern was present in his voice as he resisted reaching out to grab Cedric’s hand, not wanting to put him in any more pain.

“It’s just a little burn. Tends to happen when you take on an army of Roman demigods with just four other people.” Cedric said casually trying to put Malcolm at ease.

“An army of demigods, is that seriously the story you’re telling people?” The voice of Lou Ellen asked laughing as she walked over to stand behind Malcolm.

Malcolm looked up at the daughter of Hecate, confused at what she was talking about. “What do you mean?”

Cedric sighed, “Seriously, you can’t just let me have this?” Cedric asked.

Malcolm nearly fell out of his seat in surprise when Nico spoke up, “Wait, you’re telling people the Romans did this to you?” He asked surprised.

“Ugh, I hate you all.” Cedric whined banging the back of his head against the wall behind him.

“What really happened?” Malcolm asked.

Everyone was looking at Cedric waiting for him to speak.

“Fine, I’ll tell him.” Lou Ellen excitedly said much to Cedric’s displeasure.

“Malcolm. Sweet old Cedric here was not injured because he fought off a hoard of Romans. No, dear ol’ Ced wasn’t listening when I mentioned that the Roman Onagers were shielded, making it impossible to use direct magic on them. And because of that, someone decided to shoot a firebolt spell at the siege weapons, which was rightfully redirected at the caster of the spell. And you can figure out the rest.” Lou Ellen gleefully said, smiling through the entire story.

Cedric looked away embarrassed.

“Oh my gods, are you okay, why do you think that was funny, he could have died!” Malcolm yelled, standing up so fast that his chair fell behind him startling nearly everyone who was awake in the cabin.

“Jeeze, calm down.” Lou Ellen said holding her hands up defensively.

Cedric looked up at him, shrugging his left shoulder. “Malcolm, I’m fine. Lou’s right, I should have been paying attention.”

“That is beside the point, you could have been killed or-“

“Malcolm, I gave him emergency field treatment on the scene, he was in good hands the entire time.” Will spoke up walking over to the assembled group.

Malcolm stopped frantically looking around and put his chair back upright, but he still did not look satisfied with what happened to Cedric.

Everyone hung around in silence for a few moments until Lou Ellen spoke up. “I heard the Ministry was reserving reduced price tickets for the World Cup, did your dad get some?” Lou Ellen asked Cedric who looked slightly surprised that she was asking him a serious question.

“Uh, yeah. Nosebleed seats, but yeah. He got some tickets.” Cedric responded.

“Cool, cool. I guess that means I might see you there then. Fudge convinced dad to go, and he’s bringing the future step-monster with him.” Lou Ellen quietly said, looking slightly uncomfortable about talking about her family openly.

“Oh yeah, box seats, you’ll forgive me if I’m slightly jealous.” Cedric laughed, while also noticing that it did not hurt nearly as much to do so anymore.

Lou Ellen scoffed, “I would trade for regular seats any day. Box seats are awful, you can’t see anything, there’s no crowd environment. It’s like watching a game from home. It’s just not the same.” Lou Ellen complained shaking her head.

“Hey! Look, we’re all getting along and bonding, and it only took us to start talking about a sport I know nothing about!” Malcolm cheered giving Lou Ellen a pat on the back. She responded by punching him in the arm.

“Don’t touch me.” She ordered.

“Sorry.”

“Well, I’m going to leave you two disgusting love birds alone and go pack. The future step-monster insisted on driving me back into the city, so I will have to live like a normal No-Maj for an hour.” She complained heading for the exit. Malcolm flustered while Cedric let out a laugh under his breath.

Malcolm suddenly looked up confused for a moment before yelling after the witch, “Isn’t your dad’s fiancé like a gazillionaire?” Malcolm asked forcing Lou Ellen to quickly turn around and march back towards him, anger radiating from her.

“Malcolm, you don’t understand. Everything, and I mean everything she wears, drives, flies… Hell! Even her mansion back in England is pink! Pink!” She yelled, her fists balling up.

Malcolm held up his hands defensively.

Lou Ellen took a breath, “Malcolm, she’s British Barbie.” Was all she said before turning around and walking out of the cabin.

Cedric looked over at Malcolm, “What’s a British Barbie?”

Malcolm shook his head, “Don’t worry about it, it’s probably better that you don’t know.”

Cedric nodded his head, “Since Lou Ellen brought up the Quidditch World Cup, I was going to wait and ask until things calmed down a little, but my dad got an extra ticket, and he said I could bring a friend along, so…?” Cedric asked shrugging his shoulders.

“Seriously?” Malcolm asked surprised.

“Yeah, it could be fun…” Cedric trailed starting to get a little worried by Malcolm’s hesitance.

“I would love that, but I’m going to need to get permission from Chiron.” Malcolm responded, a big smile forming on his face.

“Awesome. We’re going to have to work fast because we only have a few days until championships, so we need to quickly ware Chiron down.” Cedric laughed.

“Gods, this is going to be so much fun.” Malcolm said happily with Cedric nodding along in agreement.

*******

**Lou Ellen Blackstone** sighed as she tried to lay as far back in the back seat as possible, embarrassed to be in the the obnoxiously large pink car. Which also had six wheels, and a large bubble dome for a top. The driver’s seat was in the middle of the car. It was truly the strangest car she had ever seen. Meanwhile her father’s fiancé, the British heiress Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward sat next to her reading a newspaper.

The blonde woman wore an all pink sequenced jacket with a matching skirt and hat. _Lady_ Penelope was the definition of what one would think of when they heard ‘British aristocracy’. Nothing said normal about her.

“How was your time at summer camp? I saw a bunch of SUVs out front, was their plans for a trip of some kind?” Penelope asked, not looking up from her paper.

Lou Ellen sighed, not wanting to hold any conversations with the woman. “No, it’s just campers from a rival camp. We were holding… a huge contest. Kind of like an Olympics, but for summer camp.” Lou Ellen lied. It was one thing for the No-Maj to have extensive knowledge of the magical world, she was defiantly not informing her of the mythical.

“How… exciting. I know you would rather have apparated back home, but I figured this would give us time to talk, one-on-one. Get to know each other a little better.” Penelope sweetly said. Lou Ellen could not tell if the tone was authentic or not, or whether it was just her accent. But it was still a little unsettling to her.

“What do you want to know?” Lou Ellen asked still looking away from the woman. Not that it would have mattered because Lady Barbie was still ingulfed in her newspaper.

“How’s Ilvermorny? Your father said you were awarded Head of Thunderbird House last term?” She asked. Her tone did come off as genuine, but it was hard to believe that with her head buried in the paper.

“It’s great.” Lou Ellen muttered. “I mean, there’s really three types of people at Ilvermorny; my actual friends, believe it or not I do have friends. There’s the people who pretend to be my friends because they want a job at the MACUSA, and then there’s the people hate me because they hate my father or are just plain racist, that too!” Lou Ellen ranted, her tone getting louder and angrier as she continued attempting to stare Penelope down through her paper.

That was enough for Penelope to put the paper down and finally look Lou Ellen in the eyes. “I’m not going to pretend I know the experience you are going through. I…I was born into the public eye; I grew up with the scrutiny of having a famous father. But you were thrusted into this, you deserve to have a normal life.” Penelope said, reaching for Lou Ellen’s hand. “Well, normal for a witch.”

Lou Ellen pulled away from Penelope’s grasp. “You’re right.” Lou Ellen stated. “Because you will never have my experience. You will never have the whispers behind your back whether you should be here. You’ve never had people sneer at you just because your skin’s darker than someone else’s. You’ve never been black in America!” She yelled to an unfazed Penelope.

“Feel better now?” She asked nonchalantly.

Lou Ellen shook her head, “No! How the Ha-heck am I supposed to feel better?”

“Good, you’re weren’t supposed to feel better. I want you to channel that anger. You’re the smartest, most talented witch on this side of the planet. Don’t let those assholes define who you are.” She said sternly.

Her sudden shift in tone put Lou Ellen off balance. This was the first time she had broken her ‘proper tone’ in front of Lou Ellen. Not that they have had much time together. But it was still significant enough for Lou Ellen to notice.

“Quite right milady!” The thick English accent of Parker called out from the driver’s seat. Because every ridiculously rich British woman needed a former SAS soldier as a chauffeur.

“Thank you, Parker.” She replied nodding her head towards the older man.

Even though Lou Ellen had her reservations about her future stepmother, she bared no ill-will towards Parker. He was a cool guy who could kick anyone’s ass if they came within ten feet of Penelope or Lou Ellen’s father.

The ride after that remained quiet until Parker mentioned that they had arrived.

On face value, the entrance to what the press dubbed “The Hudson House” was just a warehouse on the bank of the Hudson River. But that, like all things in the MACUSA was just a front for the real thing.

Parker rolled FAB1, the name of the car which was also written on the front license plate into the darken warehouse. Because, again, every rich British lady needed to also name their fleet of pink automobiles.

A flash of light appeared, and Lou Ellen saw three of her father’s security personnel approach the vehicle.

One of the wizards gently tapped on the window of the car and Penelope rolled the window down and handed the wizard her credentials.

“Welcome back Lady Penelope.” The wizard said to the blonde and he looked past her at Lou Ellen. “And to you Mrs. Blackstone.”

Lou Ellen nodded to the security officer who handed Penelope back her card. The guard quickly walked away from the car and Lou Ellen braced herself for the floor of the warehouse to drop.

“Hang on, we’re about to drop.” Parker warned and Lou Ellen gripped the arm rest on the door of the car as the floor underneath the car dropped and they headed into the Hudson River, well into a large glass structure on the floor of the Hudson River.

Her father’s residence was built near the end of the Revolutionary War and was perhaps one of the most iconic locations in Magical United States. Although the mansion was only three stories tall, it was at least a half mile long, running along the floor bed of the Hudson River. Its official name was the York Palace, but over time the press and the people of the MACUSA took to calling it the Hudson House. Lou Ellen suspected it was to make the historic manor more appealing to the common wizard and witch. But it was still the home for the most powerful family in the western hemisphere.

The grounds were lit by an artificial sun made of Witch-Light which gave the illusion of a day and night cycle due to the manor being built underneath the river. While magical charms and enchantments prevented No-Maj commercial travel directly above the palace.

They almost had a No-Maj breach of security during the Battle of Manhattan when Percy had given the river spirits the sand dollar, cleaning up the magical wards which cloaked the underwater residence with the pollution and other obstructions. No-Maj satellites noticed the Witch-Light projections, but luckily the MACUSA Ambassador to the No-Maj President of the United States… persuaded him to cover the incident up.

Parker rolled the pink car up to the main gate just as the warehouse elevator ascended back to the surface.

The gates opened and two more security wizards approached the car opening both doors for the trio to get out of.

“Parker, thank you so much for bringing my girls back safely.” The booming voice of Thomas Blackstone called from the main gate as he shook the chauffer’s hand.

“Of course, sir.” Parker replied.

“Penny, glad you could get away long enough for this.” Thomas greeted his fiancé as he pulled her into a hug and kissed her cheek.

“I’m thrilled to be able to finally see a quidditch match.” She replied before pulling away to allow Thomas to greet his daughter.

“How was camp? I heard…about the incident.” He whispered into her ear as he hugged her.

“It… was taken care of.” She responded, nervously eyeing Penelope.

“Of course.” He whispered back before turning to face Parker and Penelope. “I hope you found the campground all right?” Thomas asked Penelope.

“It was a little unsettling having to wait next to the road, but we found everything just fine.” Penelope replied while Parker nodded along.

“We should head inside and get ready for dinner.” Thomas said stepping aside as two of the house staff levitated Penelope’s pink suitcases from the car and into the mansion.

Thomas hooked his arm around Lou Ellen’s shoulders as he led the them into the mansion.

*******

**_Lou Ellen Blackstone_ ** _found herself in the middle of a large graveyard. Daunting statues surrounded the grave site. While many more tombstones dotted the landscape. It was pitch black out, clouds blocking out any light from the moon and the stars._

_A loud yell caught her attention and she quickly ran up a hill and saw a body lying still on the ground and she saw someone trapped in the grasp of one of the statues that looked like an angel of death._

_Lou Ellen squinted and saw a small plump figure walking closer to the person trapped in the statue and several other cloaked figures in the background._

_She quickly ran down the hill and slid behind a large tombstone, trying to eavesdrop. She could only hear muffled cries coming from one of them, most likely the trapped kid._

_Lou Ellen slowly peeked her head around and had to cover her mouth when she saw the figure motionless on the ground. It was Cedric, wearing a black and yellow athletic suit. His eyes were wide-open, but void of life._

_She slowly looked up and saw the person who was trapped in the grasp of the statue was Harry Potter, but she did not recognize the short plump balding man. What hair he did have was a light brown. He held a knife in one hand and a bundle of dark cloth in the other._

_Lou Ellen tried to step back, and reassess her surroundings, but the crack of a stick breaking underneath her feet turned the attention towards her._

_“Kill the intruder!” A whispery voice commanded, and the short man pointed his wand at Lou Ellen._

_“ **Avada Kedarva**!” The short man yelled hitting Lou Ellen dead center in the chest. _

“Ahhhh!” Lou Ellen screamed waking up in her bed. “What the Hades?” She asked herself before looking over at her alarm clock and seeing that her alarm was about to go off in a few minutes.

“Ugh, I hate prophetic dreams!” She yelled before yanking the covers back over her face.

*******

**It** was the morning of the World Cup when Lou Ellen walked into her father’s office already decked out in her green and white for Ireland. She had to keep it to herself that she really wanted Bulgaria to win; but Minster Fudge was rooting for Ireland, so that meant so was she and her father.

Her father, Penelope, and two of his advisors were looking over a handful of files and documents. Most likely discussing last minute details for whatever negotiations this trip was a cover for.

Lou Ellen stood at the door quietly, not wanting to disturb the meeting. It was another minute before her father looked up and noticed her presence. “I think we’re good for now. Thank you all.” Her father said dismissing his advisors.

Lou Ellen stepped aside as the two wizards walked past her, each nodding their heads in acknowledgement of her.

Thomas stood up from behind his desk and flicked his wand to push his chair in as he walked over to greet his daughter.

“You all set for tonight?” He asked.

Lou Ellen nodded her head.

Penelope wore a creamed color coat overtop a golden blouse. It was a strange sight for Lou Ellen because it was one of the only times that the woman was not wearing pink. She walked over to join Lou Ellen and Thomas. “I can’t wait to see a match, there was always so much fuss about it when I worked with the Ministry.” She said, smiling and looking genuinely excited.

Lou Ellen had almost forgotten about Penelope’s time in the Ministry of Magic, even though that was how she and Thomas met. About four years ago, then MACUSA President Jamison had asked Thomas to serve as the MACUSA ambassador to the Ministry of Magic in Britain. During his time serving abroad, Thomas had met the No-Maj U.K. Ambassador to the Ministry of Magic, Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward. She served the Queen’s government as her and the Prime Minister’s chief liaison between the two governments. After she and Thomas started to have a serious relationship, she resigned from her post and was now working as an art collector for some rich American former astronaut.

A sudden burst of music blasted through the residence which made Lou Ellen jump in surprise.

Penelope reached into her pocket and pulled out a bright pink cellphone and quickly answered it shutting off her ringtone, which was a catchy British march. It was not a ring tone Lou Ellen associated with the British heiress.

“Hello Jeff… Right… of course… I’m on my way.” Penelope said before hanging up on ‘Jeff’.

“I’m assuming that was Jeff Tracy?” Thomas asked Penelope as she bit her lip.

“I’m afraid duty calls.” She whispered before giving him a kiss on the cheek. Penelope gave Lou Ellen a surprise hug before she got back onto her cellphone. “Parker, have the car ready, we’re flying to Tracy Island.” Lou Ellen heard her order as she walked out of the office.

Lou Ellen quickly looked back to her father, “How the Hades does she have cell reception down here?”

Thomas shrugged his shoulders, “Jeff’s a smart man and he also has the smartest people working for him, who probably built that constantly ringing No-Maj device for her. I think you go to school with his youngest son, Alan.”

Lou Ellen tried to associate the name with a face before it hit her, “Alan freaking Tracy. He’s a smartass, going into his fourth year. The number of detentions I wrote out for him was ridiculous. All he does is complain about going to school, always saying that he wants to be an astronaut…like his dad. Gods, how didn’t I put two-and-two together.” Lou Ellen ranted facepalming while her father rose his eyebrows in response to her frustration while suppressing a laugh.

“Well alright then. MACUSA Security already contacted me, right before you walked in, they gave us the all clear to apparate to our meeting spot with the Minister.” Thomas said changing the subject.

“Well-“ Lou Ellen said turning to the door and waving her wand and her backpack flung into her hand. “Ready when you are.”

Thomas grabbed a brief case sitting on his desk and placed his hat on top his bald head. He held his arm out for Lou Ellen to take.

“You know, I can apparate myself.” She said before reaching for his arm.

“You don’t even know where we are going.” Thomas said. Lou Ellen rolled her eyes.

“Whatever.” She muttered and closed her eyes just as Thomas teleported them from his office.

Lou Ellen opened her eyes and saw a menacing black gate closed in front of them. She looked over and saw two of her father’s security personnel approach them.

“Sir, we’ve swept the premises, you’re all clear.” One of the wizards said to Thomas.

“Thanks Sean, you and Travis can head out. The Minister’s security detail is going to take the lead from here.” Thomas told the MACUSA security officer.

“Sir, I have to insist-“

“So do I. Go home Sean. Take the day off, I’ll have the best security in the world by my side the entire time.” Thomas said putting his arm around Lou Ellen; Whose face flustered at the compliment.

Sean and Travis both looked skeptical but nodded their heads and apparated away.

“Welp, welcome to Malfoy Manor.” Thomas said, but there was nothing warm in his voice. Lou Ellen had never met the Malfoy family, but her father would constantly tell her stories of having to deal with Lucius Malfoy during his time working as a Ambassador.

“These are the racists, right?” Lou Ellen asked, even though she already knew the answer.

Her father gently nodded before the gates opened in front of them, and a small house elf greeted them.

“Hello ma’am and sir, master wished for me to bring you inside.” The small creature said shyly. Lou Ellen closed her eyes, hating to see the poor creature, knowing the conditions he was probably living in.

Part of disdain people had, not just in the U.S. but around the world towards her father was the fact that he was the lead sponsor on a bill years ago that outlawed _unpaid_ workers of any _sentient intelligence_. Which was directed towards house elves, but was also a way to prevent the term ‘slavery’ to be reintroduced into written American law. But that bill also led her father to a populist election landslide. Mainly on the backing of the younger generations and minority voters. There is even a bill sitting in the MACUSA Senate that would allow voting rights to goblins, centaurs, house elves, and some other magical creatures, unfortunately her father already told her it was ‘dead-on-arrival’ in the House.

The two continued to follow the creature up a large hill on a stone path surrounded by large hedges which led to the large mansion overlooking the grounds. The mansion itself was not anything too special. It was large and tall, but it did not look warm or inviting. The stone walls were faded beyond their original color, looking almost gray. While the large windows were all tinted and almost impossible to see through. The roofs were made up of several large dark blue triangles. In many ways the mansion gave off ‘haunted house’ vibes.

The house elf opened the large wooden door and led them to an enormous sitting room with several couches surrounding a coffee table. A large chandelier hung from the tall ceilings, acting as the primary source of light besides the sunlight coming from the windows.

Minister Fudge sat across a man with long white hair, who Lou Ellen suspected to be Lucius Malfoy. Both were in deep conversation before the house elf purposely coughed into his hand to draw their attention.

“Masters, I proudly present Mr. and Mrs. Blackstone.” The house elf said shyly.

Lucius and Fudge turned to meet Thomas’s eyes and they both smiled up at Lou Ellen’s father.

“Elf, you’re dismissed.” Lucius ordered harshly. The elf respectfully bowed before quickly disappearing down a staircase at the other end of the room.

“Thomas, how good it is to see you again.” Fudge cheered and quickly walked over to shake Thomas’s hand. Thomas smiled back and returned the greeting to his British counterpart.

Lucius slowly followed up on the Minister’s greeting.

“Mr. President, pleasure to see you again.” Lucius said coldly shaking Thomas’s hand.

“Same with you Mr. Malfoy.” Thomas replied in the same tone.

Fudge shook Lou Ellen’s hand, “Glad to see that you are wearing your Irish green!” Fudge said pointing to her green and white shirt.

“Of course, got to send it to them Bulgarians.” Lou Ellen laughed, internally rolling her eyes.

“Quite right, when England’s out of it, got to root for the best next thing!” Fudge laughed before turning to look at Thomas, “Or when the Americans aren’t in either.”

Lou Ellen tried to suppress her laughter at Fudge’s attempts of ‘sucking up’.

Even though Britain was essentially the magical capital of the world, the economic power still rested with the U.S. Much like how the No-Maj economy started to shift from the U.K. to the U.S. during the First World War and following the Second. Much of the world’s trading and raw resources still came from U.S., despite the growing magical industries coming from India and North Africa.

Her father was constantly worried that India would become the world’s largest magical trading economy and would take away from the U.S.’s dominance in the field. Lou Ellen thought he was just being paranoid, but there was enough fear coming from Thomas’s economic advisors, and the rest of her father’s political party, the ‘Caucus for the Future’ (CFTF), within the Magical Congress.

Much like the No-Maj political system in the U.S., the MACUSA was dominated by two political parties, the CFTF were the more left leaning party. Meanwhile the ‘Traditionalists’ were perceived to be center-right. Though the Traditionalists had started shifting further right ever since her father’s election.

Lucius Malfoy approached Lou Ellen dragging her out of her thoughts. “Mrs. Blackstone, I don’t think we have had the pleasure. I am Lucius Malfoy. One of the Minister’s top economic advisors.” He greeted, holding his hand out.

Lou Ellen looked up at him for a moment before hesitantly shaking his hand. She knew the only reason why he was an advisor for the Minister was because he and the other Pureblood families pretty much bank rolled Fudge’s election(s).

“Draco, why don’t you show Mrs. Blackstone the manor.” Lucius called out and a boy about a year or two younger than Lou Ellen walked out from a door on the other side of the sitting room. He wore an all-black suit, and his hair was white like his father, Lou Ellen assumed that he was Lucius’s son anyways, and his hair was also short and well kept. The most unsettling thing about him was just how pale his skin was. It reminded Lou Ellen of Nico. _‘Y’all need to get some sunlight.’_ Lou Ellen thought to herself as the teen approached her.

“Can’t a house elf do it?” He whined.

Lou Ellen gently shook her head at his tone. _‘Great, I’m stuck with the spoiled brat.’_ Lou Ellen thought to herself as she faked a smile and walked over to the boy, “Well, hello to you too.” She said in a faux cheerful voice and she could almost hear her father internally groaning.

Draco closed his eyes, most likely rolling them before facing Lou Ellen. “I meant no disrespect, just that I’m not a tour guide.”

“And I would rather be at home blasting target dummies with my wand but here I am.” Lou Ellen retorted. “But they clearly don’t want us to take part in their little negotiation because they know they _we_ could come up with a better deal, and faster because we aren’t a bunch of _boomers_.” Lou Ellen ranted while everyone looked at her confused.

“A what?” Minster Fudge asked while Thomas facepalmed and shook his head.

“I apologize for my daughter; she attends a summer camp that’s full of No-Majs and she picks up on some of their slang.” Thomas apologized sending his daughter a pointed look.

Lou Ellen huffed before turning back to Draco. “All right, let’s get this over with, where are we starting first?” She asked a confounded Draco Malfoy who quickly led her out of the large room and started their tour.

*******

**Malcolm Pace** was shaken awake and quickly sat up in his bed, nearly bumping his head into Cedric’s.

“Wow, careful.” Cedric said excitedly. “Get dressed, we’re going to be late and we can’t miss our portkey appointment.” Cedric ordered.

Malcolm did not budge, still trying to wake himself up. It’s not that he isn’t a morning person, but the time change was already affecting him… badly.

“Dude, you know it’s still like midnight on the East Coast right now. Like, I would just now be getting ready for bed.” Malcolm complained as he begrudgingly got out of the bed and headed over to his suitcase to track down his jeans.

He had commandeered Cedric’s guest bedroom. He and Cedric had left from Camp Half-Blood early in the morning the day before. For the most part they hung around Cedric’s house, not doing much outside of playing a round of ‘Wizard’s Chess’ and Cedric giving him a crash course on quidditch and all the key players. The only thing Malcolm had gotten out of that conversation was that some guy named Krum was the best seeker in the world… and Malcolm was fairly sure Cedric had a crush on the Bulgarian.

But the one time they did leave the house, Cedric had taken him to that pub a few miles from his house he promised to take Malcolm too when they were at Hogsmeade. It was never established whether or not if it was date, but they both had a good time. Malcolm at least assumed Cedric had a good time and he did not want to ruin it by asking whether it was a date or not.

Cedric had run back to his room while Malcolm finished throwing his clothes on, he did not pack much, but he still struggled to find the rest of his clothes, somehow.

Malcolm turned back to the door when he heard Cedric’s footsteps. Cedric was holding a red and black jersey in one hand and a green and white one in the other. “The Irish or the Bulgarians?” Cedric asked lifting each hand as he asked.

Malcolm eyed both of them, “Which ever one you don’t want.” Malcolm said not caring. The only thing he knew about either team was that one was from Bulgaria and the other was from Ireland. He just wanted to watch the game; he honestly did not have a preference.

“Merlin.” Cedric groaned in annoyance, “Which color is your favorite, red or green?” Cedric asked, almost pleadingly.

Malcolm smirked up at him, “Blue.”

Cedric inhaled deeply and began ranting in French. “Fine, just take this one.” Cedric sighed and threw the green jersey at Malcolm.

Malcolm looked down at the Irish team shirt before looking back up at Cedric who was placing his red jersey into his backpack.

“You giving me the green one has nothing to do with your crush on Viktor Krum does it?” Malcolm asked, suppressing a smirk.

Cedric started to squirm in place, his face flustering. “Wha-what are you talking about? I don’t have a crush on Krum.”

Malcolm chuckled, “Cedric, it was kind of hard to miss the giant poster behind your bedroom door… of him shirtless riding on a broom.”

Cedric started to blush, his face more red than not. “It’s a sports poster.” Cedric said trying to justify it.

Malcolm shook his head as he put the green jersey into his backpack and walked over to Cedric. _‘Yeah, a shirtless sports poster.’_

“I’m only teasing, I’m not trying to embarrass you.” He said, somewhat honestly before stepping closer to the son of Aphrodite, “He is objectively hot. There’s no denying it.” Malcolm whispered before walking passed him and down the stairs. He left Cedric standing in complete confusion.

“Come on, I thought we were in a hurry!” Malcolm yelled behind him.

Malcolm rounded the corner of the stairs and nearly ran into Amos Diggory.

“Malcolm, sleep alright?” He asked, his voice filled with joy and excitement.

“As well as I could have.” Malcolm said shrugging his shoulders as he grabbed some toast and scarfed it down.

“Good, good.” Amos said, his smile still plastered on his face. He walked over to the staircase, “Cedric, we’re going to be late!” He yelled up the stairs.

It was a few seconds later before Cedric ran down the stairs struggling to get a jacket on.

“We have everything? Tent?” Amos asked while looking through his own backpack.

“Checked and rechecked.” Cedric said while slinging his backpack over one shoulder.

“Malcolm, you have everything.” Amos asked.

“Yep, all set.”

“Alright then, Malcolm if you want to go with me, we’ll apparate near the portkey and meet up with Arthur Weasley and his kids.” Amos explained as Malcolm reached for the older man’s arm, bracing himself for the unpleasant form of transportation. “It’s a good thing Cedric passed his apparation test because we would have had to leave at two in the morn’, because there was no way I would be apparating the both of you.” Amos added randomly which made Malcolm internally sigh, _‘Can we just get this over with.’_

Malcolm kept his eyes closed in anticipation as he heard the loud crack and the familiar unpleasant feeling of being shoved into a small hole and being shot out the other side. He fell out of Amos’s grasp and opened his eyes to see he was in the middle of the woods. Sunlight pierced through the canopy of trees as he squinted at the sudden change of light. It was a little chilly, considering how early it was in the morning, but it was still pleasant.

“Amos is that you?” Malcolm heard an unknown voice ask. They both turned around and saw a group of people walk around a large pine tree. Most, including the adult of the group were red heads, while a brunette girl and a dark-haired boy stood out as the only non-redheads.

Malcolm recognized the twin boys as the ones that Lou Ellen had run through back when they had traveled to Hogsmeade. While the brunette girl also looked familiar. He was pretty sure he recognized her from the wizarding village as well. And now that he was really thinking about it, the younger redheaded boy also looked familiar.

“Arthur, right on time.” Amos said greeting the newcomer.

“This wouldn’t be Cedric would it?” Arthur asked looking at Malcolm.

Amos gave a full-throated laugh. “Merlin no, much to smart to be mine. No, this is Malcolm. He’s a friend of Cedric’s, from America.” Amos introduced while Malcolm nervously looked around, not used to all the attention.

“Hi.” He nervously waved.

“Amos, Malcolm. These are Fred, George, Ginny, Ron, their friend Hermione, and-“

“Harry Potter, of course. Pleasure to meet you.” Amos said cutting Arthur off and racing over to shake the teen’s hand.

Cedric had explained the reason behind Harry Potter’s fame to Malcolm, several times. But he still did not understand the obsession and popularity. But the kid seemed nice enough and Cedric had always made it a point to mention that he never let the fame get to him. But Malcolm still does not see the hype with the poor kid. It was like he was a wizarding version of Percy, or Madonna.

 _‘Because that’s just what the world needs. Another Percy.’_ Malcolm thought to himself just as he heard another loud crack and Cedric appeared right behind the Arthur’s group. Everyone turned around to greet Cedric. He shook the dark-haired kid’s hand and flashed him his signature smile before being nearly tackled by the twins.

“Sorry, I forgot something back in my room.” Cedric apologized to his father once he walked up to him and Malcolm.

“Quite alright Ced, but we’ve best be off. Don’t want to miss our appointment with the portkey.” Amos said and took the lead with Arthur.

Cedric fell in line with Malcolm as Arthur’s group fallowed close behind them.

“What did you forget?” Malcolm asked Cedric who pulled out a small brown bag which clanged as he brought it out of his pocket.

“You forgot your money?” Malcolm laughed while shaking his head.

Cedric gave a fake pout. “Don’t laugh. You and I both know I would have been unbearable if I wouldn’t be able to buy any souvenirs while we were at this thing.” Cedric said pointing his finger.

“You are certainly right about that.” Malcolm replied.

“That was rhetorical.” Cedric laughed before lightly punching Malcolm in the shoulder.

They both kept walking when Hermione suddenly walked up beside Malcolm. “Hi Malcolm, I was wondering where in America you are attending school?” She asked pointedly.

Malcolm heard Ron mutter something on the lines of, “ _Here she goes.”_

Malcolm nervously looked at Cedric before slowly answering, “Ilvermorny?” It came out more as a question than an answer, but Malcolm hoped his nervousness came off just as part of his personality.

“Should have figured, it is the largest school in the country.” Hermione supplied.

“Hey Hermione, do you know what’s going on at school this year, dad won’t tell me anything other than it’s a ‘surprise’.” Cedric interrupted, making sure to add air quotes.

“No, I haven’t heard anything. Ron said his dad’s been hinting at something big but that’s it.” She said and did not continue to press Malcolm for questions.

Malcolm silently thanked Cedric while they continued to follow Amos and Arthur to a clearing near the edge of a cliff.

Arthur, Amos, Cedric, the twins, Ron, and Ginny all gathered around an old warn boot sitting in the middle of the clearing.

“What’s with the manky old boot?” Harry asked to anyone. Malcolm was thankful that he was the one to ask because he did not want to seem like the only confused person.

“It’s a portkey, I think. I’ve read about them.” Hermione answered stepping closer to the assembled group. That still did not give Malcolm any clue to what was with the boot. Harry still looked confused and looked at Malcolm for an answer. Malcolm shrugged his shoulders in response and Harry copied the gesture.

Harry walked around to stand by Ron and Hermione while Malcolm quickly walked over to stand next to Cedric and one of the twins.

“All right, on three…” Amos started and everyone, but Harry, Hermione, and Malcolm dropped to the ground and grabbed onto the muddy old boot. Hermione and Malcolm both quickly fell next, trying to find an empty space to put their hand.

“One…Two…-“

“Harry!” Arthur yelled.

Harry quickly dropped to grab on just as Amos shouted, “Three!”

Malcolm felt a weird sensation pull at him as he felt weightless traveling through the air, and just as quickly as it started, Malcolm found himself on the ground, in a completely different location.

“Hades that was weird.” Malcolm muttered to himself as he was met by a hand at his face. Malcolm looked up and saw Ginny’s hand, he quickly grabbed it that way she could yank him up.

“Thanks.” He told the red head. She nodded and they both looked over and saw Ron help Hermione up and Cedric with Harry.

“It was good seeing you Amos, we’re going to go track down our campsite!” Arthur shouted as he led his group up a large green hill.

“See you at the match Weasley!” Amos replied and the three of them waited for the seven to get out of earshot. Once they were up the hill Amos turned to face Cedric and Malcolm.

“So, you attend Ilvermorny now?” Amos chuckled.

Malcolm flustered as he scratched the back of his head. “I guess you overheard that?” He nervously laughed.

“You two better come up with an actual story, because there will be _wizards_ from all over, including those that attend Ilvermorny. So, you best have your facts down to a tee.” Amos warned.

“Better plan, I’ll just let you two do all the talking.” Malcolm said. Cedric shook his head while Amos just smiled on.

“Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena.” Amos stated and began to lead the three up the large green hill.

By the time they were up there, Malcolm could see just how grand the world cup venue was. To begin with, it was a gigantic field, covered in tents, as wizards from all over the world filled the massive field. At the end of the green field, an oval structure sat in the distance. Malcolm assumed it was the stadium.

“Ready?” Cedric asked stepping closer to Malcolm.

Malcolm smiled up at the taller boy. “Born that way.”

***

 **Cedric Diggory** followed his father down the long rampway and up a large flight of stairs in the World Cup stadium.

“No one said anything about this.” Malcolm muttered from behind Cedric.

He turned to look at the son of Athena who stared directly up the winding staircases and platforms.

“You wanted to come.” Cedric stated.

Malcolm glanced at him, “You were the one that asked.” Malcolm retorted.

“You could have said no.” Cedric replied, smirking when Malcolm could not come up with a witty response.

Malcolm huffed and walked past Cedric, following Amos.

They walked up another three flights of stairs before coming to another platform where they ended up running into the Weasley’s, Granger, and Potter.

“Fancy meeting you lot here.” Amos said patting Harry on the back, who looked a little uncomfortable from Amos’s sudden touch but quickly masked it before smiling up at Cedric’s father.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Potter and his charity cases!” The snarky voice of Draco Malfoy called up from the platform just below them.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione quickly walked over to the railing and stared daggers at the youngest Malfoy.

“Oh my gods, can you please be a child somewhere else!” A familiar female voice yelled.

Cedric and Malcolm both quickly ran over to stand next to the three others and much to both Cedric and Malcolm’s disbelief, Lou Ellen walked up behind Draco Malfoy and scolded him.

“Lou?” Cedric and Malcolm both yelled at the same time, gaining the four others’ attention.

“Hey boys, glad you could make it.” She responded. It was a little surprising to hear Lou Ellen be glad to see at least Cedric, but he would be glad to see her too if he had to spend the entire day with Malfoy. At least he assumed she did because she interjected herself so easily into his ‘conversation’.

“How’s it going?” Malcolm asked the girl just as Malfoy went back to bickering with Potter.

“Please, save me. I swear if I have to spend another minute with these people, I’m going to feed them to Mrs. O’Leary.” She hissed garnering a strange look from Malfoy.

Malfoy shook off Lou Ellen’s comment and went back to trying to one up Potter, “We’ve got box seats from the personal request of Cornelius Fudge himself.” Draco stated gleefully.

“So did I, get over yourself.” Lou Ellen countered walking past the bleached blonde.

Everyone on the top platform snickered as they slowly started moving upwards again.

“Draco don’t boast.” The cold voice of Lucius Malfoy interrupted pushing his son forward.

Right behind them, Minister Fudge and another man that Cedric recognized followed the father and son. It was bothering Cedric he could not remember who the younger man was standing next to Fudge, he could have sworn he had seen his image in the Daily Prophet or somewhere.

“Is that President Blackstone?” Cedric heard Hermione whisper to Ron and then it hit Cedric like running into a brick wall…that was not on Platform nine and three quarters.

Cedric suddenly stopped and proclaimed, “Lou Ellen’s dad is the President of the MACUSA!” And Malcolm ran into the back of him.

“What did you say?” He asked, rubbing the top of his head from where he had ran into Cedric.

“Lou Ellen. Her dad is the President of the United States. That explains so much now.” He said as Malcolm pushed him forward, making sure that they did not lose Amos in the crowd.

“Yep, explains a lot. Now can we please stop getting distracted and keep going?” Malcolm asked as a wizard inadvertently pushed into him trying to pass. But his request came off more as an order than anything else.

“Sorry, ADHD.” Cedric said smirking at Malcolm as he rolled his eyes.

“Not how that works.” Malcolm retorted.

The two made the final climb up to the top of the stadium, once again splitting ways with the Weasley clan as they went in the opposite direction of the stadium.

They found their seats near half pitch and waited patiently for the pregame show to start.

It was not much longer before a loud voice boomed across the stadium, “Now let me introduce the Bulgarian National Team’s Mascots!”

Cedric looked down to the field and saw about hundred Veela running onto the field. The Veela were perhaps the most beautiful women in the world, it was impossible for Cedric to tear his eyes away from them.

“Hello, Earth to Cedric? What’s going on?” Malcolm’s hand waved across his face, trying to compete for his attention.

“Not now Malcolm, the Veela.” He said, almost in a trance like state.

“Oh my gods! Are these bitches like the Sirens or something? Hello, Cedric, they’re just women.” Malcolm stated before punching Cedric in his arm, taking his attention away from the beautiful Veela to look at his now throbbing arm.

"Ow, Jesus! What was that for?” Cedric asked rubbing his arm, maybe a little dramatically, but he wanted to get the point across.

He shook his head before looking back at Malcolm who had a concern look on his face. “Right, the Veela. They have an alluring effect on men because of their immaculate beauty.” Cedric explained and started turn back to the field before quickly turning back to Malcolm again. “Why aren’t you affected by them?”

Malcolm shrugged his shoulders, “Maybe because I’m gay?” Malcolm said shrugging his shoulders.

“Yeah, but I’m bi so, shouldn’t I not be affected because I’m not straight?” Cedric asked a facepalming Malcolm.

“If you are bi, you’re still sexually attracted to women. Meaning that these… Veela will still have power over you or whatever.” Malcolm groaned speaking through his hand as he refused to look up at Cedric.

“Oh, right.” Cedric said his face burning up from embarrassment. “I knew that.”

It was only a few moments later when a rush of ‘boos’ filled the stands as the Veela left the stadium and the announcer filled the empty airwaves by announcing the Irish Team’s National Mascot.

A large golden comment sored through the air and exploded into fireworks as a large rainbow formed from the spectacular fireworks display. Golden objects started to suddenly fall from the sky and Cedric went to grab one, and when he opened his hand, a large gold coin sat in his palm.

“Finally, something that _I_ can enjoy.” Malcolm cheered as he grabbed a handful of coins.

Moments later both teams were lining up on the pitch and the referee flew in between the teams to the center of the pitch, quaffle in hand.

The referee threw the quaffle up and just like that, “And they’re off!” The announcer shouted.

***

 **Malcolm Pace** and Cedric sat around the small stove trying to keep warm from the chilly night air.

“I still don’t understand how Ireland won; didn’t Bulgaria get the snitch?” Malcolm asked standing up to pace around the tent. “And what’s the point of everyone else if the seeker is really the only important position?”

Amos’s head shot up from the bed he was lying on, “What’s the point? What’s the point?” He asked walking over to the duo in disbelief. “Merlin Ced, I thought you explained the game to him?” Amos asked his son staring daggers at Malcolm for asking such a question.

“Dad, trust me. I tried.” Cedric said not looking away from the fire.

Amos looked like he was about to go on another rant directed towards Malcolm, but several screams pierced through the tent garnering their attention. Malcolm could have sworn he also heard a faint explosion in the distance.

Amos quickly walked outside before rushing back inside.

“What’s going on dad, the Irish getting a little too drunk?” Cedric asked, standing up and walking over to his father.

“No, both you and Malcolm head for the woods. I’ll meet you guys over there.” Amos ordered grabbing his wand.

Both Cedric and Malcolm stood still, not sure what to do.

Amos turned back feverishly, “Come now, quickly! This isn’t a game!” Amos yelled rushing over to grab both Cedric and Malcolm by their arms and pulling them outside of the tent.

They were met by hundreds of witches and wizards running around and screaming in fear. Malcolm ducked his head when he heard a loud explosion up the hill. He looked up and saw a horse-drawn cart, without the horses, on fire. It raced down the grass pathway, striking several wizards before it crashed into a tent and exploded. Malcolm prayed to the gods that no one was inside the tent.

Malcolm looked back in the direction the runaway cart had come from and saw a group of wizards carrying torches and shooting fireballs off, hitting tents as they marched on.

It was hard to make out what they were wearing beyond dark robes, dark pointed hats, and skull masks. It reminded him of KKK garb… if they were to wear anything other than white.

“Cedric, go!” Amos yelled and ran off in the opposite direction towards the wizard KKK group.

Cedric kept looking down the direction his father had run off. He had his wand drawn and looked ready to fight.

Malcolm reached up and tugged on Cedric’s shirt. “Ced, we’ve got to go.” Malcolm urged, pulling Cedric away from a group of wizards running right through the spot he had just been standing at.

“Ra-right.” Cedric hoarsely said and he led Malcolm through the crowd as they dodged the fleeing mob and headed for a line of trees at the end of the field.

Malcolm watched as several wizards apparated right in front of them. “Hey, can’t you just apparate us out of here?” Malcolm asked Cedric.

He shook his head. “I barely passed my apparition test like a week ago. I barely trust myself to apparate, much less taking you with me.” He explained as he pulled Malcolm back from a large crowd running through an intersection right in front of them.

“Thanks.” He said and Cedric nodded, and they ran the last hundred feet or so into the dark wooded area. Dozens of other wizards also had the same idea and were cowering behind trees or ran off deeper into the woods.

They slowed their pace making sure not to twist their ankles on any overgrown tree roots or a hole.

They walked another fifty feet or so into the tree line before stopping behind a clump of boulders. There was a group of teens probably around thirteen or fourteen sitting down with their heads between their knees. Faint cries were coming from them.

Malcolm debated whether to try and comfort them or make sure they were alright, but he was not sure how to approach the younger teens. He figured if they needed something he could help with, they would ask.

“Who were those guys?” Malcolm asked, leaning down and put his hands on his knees while trying to catch his breath.

“I think they were Deatheaters.” Cedric said, keeping his focus back towards the direction they came from.

Malcolm stood up with a perplexed look on his face. “Deatheaters? Seriously? And I thought the Greeks were overdramatic with their names.” Malcolm said sarcastically.

Cedric ignored his comment but turned back to face him. “Okay, you stay here, I’m going to go help dad.” He ordered.

Malcolm scoffed at his proclamation. “Like Hades you are.”

“Don’t try to talk me out of this, dad needs my help.” Cedric said pointedly.

Malcolm shook his head, “I know, but you are not going out there alone.” He said pulling out his sword from thin air, concealed by the Mist.

“Malcolm, no. These aren’t monsters. And plus, we don’t even know if your sword will work on them. It could just pass right through them like normal mortals.” Cedric pleaded.

“It deflects magic, and that’s all I need, now come on.” Malcolm ordered. Cedric stood dumbfounded at Malcolm’s eagerness.

“Hey Malcolm.” Cedric said, still standing in the same spot he had been from before. Malcolm turned around to face Cedric.

He stepped forward before quickly planting a quick kiss on Malcolm’s lips before pulling away to a shocked Malcolm.

“Alright, if I had the courage to do that, then I have the courage to fight off some dumbasses who forgot today wasn’t Halloween.” Cedric said and ran back towards the campsite.

Malcolm still stood completely still, unable to process what just happened, and found him to be the ‘dumbfounded one’ now.

“Cedric!” Malcolm yelled, running after the son of Aphrodite.

Malcolm stopped once he exited the woods and saw Cedric just standing there, looking at the destruction before them. The entire campsite was dark, with only embers burning from the vast destruction. There was no green for as far as the eye could see. Just gray ash covering everything and the remains of the tents and venues.

“Dad!” Cedric called out and started running through the destruction.

“Cedric.” Malcolm hissed, trying to shut him up.

“Dad!”

“Ced.” Malcolm called out again rushing over to stop him. “I know you want to find your dad, but giving our position away isn’t exactly the most strategically sound tactic.” Malcolm advised.

Cedric looked at him before nodding. “Then, mister master of strategy, what do you propose?” Cedric asked crossing his arms over his chest.

“Well, the… ‘Deatheaters’ were moving east while we were moving south, so-“

Malcolm summarized when Cedric interrupted his thoughts by tugging on his shirt.

“What?” Malcolm asked and then he saw Cedric staring up into the sky where a shadowy cloud formation had appeared with a poison green glow and it formed into a skull with a snake coming out from its mouth.

“The Dark Mark.” Cedric whispered and he started running back towards the woods.

“Cedric, wait!” Malcolm shouted and sprinted to catch up with him.

Malcolm caught up with him at the edge of the woods when several bright red flashes of light caught their attention deeper in the woods.

Cedric and Malcolm both carefully ran towards the source of light which was perhaps a hundred yards further into the wooded area. Cedric and Malcolm both stopped when they saw about a dozen wizards surrounding a group of teens. Malcolm had to squint to see that it was Harry, Hermione, and Ron that were in the middle of the group.

“Dad!” Cedric yelled and ran over to his father who was in the middle of an argument with Arthur Weasley and another wizard. Malcolm quickly followed him, concealing his sword before he gained the stares of the other wizards.

“Cedric, Malcolm. I told you to hide.” Amos hissed.

“What’s going on?” Cedric asked.

“Nothing, I’m taking you both home.” He said ushering both of them away from the group.

Before Malcolm or Cedric could protest Amos had whipped out his wand and apparated both him and Malcolm back to the Diggory residence. Malcolm clutched his stomach as he dried heaved from the unexpected magical travel.

Cedric appeared seconds later, looking extremely pissed off. “You had no right-“

“Cedric!” Amos yelled back cutting him off.

Cedric sighed waiting for Amos to explain himself. “It was the Deatheaters who attacked the World Cup.” Amos said as if that answered all their questions.

Cedric gave him a gesture to keep going, “And…”

“And that’s it.” Amos said. “Stay here, Malcolm, I’ll take you back to Camp Half-Blood in the morning, I have to get back and make sure there aren’t any stragglers.” Amos said quickly and apparated out of the house before Cedric could stop him.

Cedric sighed before sitting at one of the stools behind the kitchen counter.

“So…” Malcolm murmured sitting down next to Cedric.

“So…” Cedric repeated, he stared off at the wall across from his as he ran a hand through his hair, damp with sweat and coated in ash and dirt.

“We just going to ignore the fact that you kissed me or what?” Malcolm asked trying to get Cedric to look at him.

Cedric turned around to face Malcolm. “I-I should have asked you, I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable.” Cedric carefully said.

“What? No, no, you didn’t make me uncomfortable. I was just… surprised that’s all. Honestly, it took you long enough.” Malcolm laughed grabbing Cedric’s hands to reassure him.

He flashed Malcolm his signature smile.

“Are you just going to stare at me or are you going to kiss me?” Malcolm asked, trying to prevent himself from blushing, but he could feel that he was failing miserably.

Cedric rolled his eyes before leaning over to abide by Malcolm’s request.

“Better?” Cedric asked.

Malcolm only nodded in response.

***

 **Lou Ellen Blackstone** sat next to Nico di Angelo on a cushion in the middle of Rachel Dare’s cave. It was the day after the World Cup and her father had sent her an owl about the attacks on the camp site following the match. To make matters worse, that same night she had yet another nightmare, the same one she had the night before that.

She nearly had a panic attack after she read her father’s letter, thinking perhaps something happened to Cedric and Harry because they had both been at the World Cup, and since it was attacked by Deatheaters, she figured those were the cloaked figures in her nightmares.

Thankfully, Malcolm showed up shortly after she received her father’s letter assuring that both he, Cedric, and Potter were safe. She did not tell him the reason why she was so concerned, not wanting to bother him over something that she was not one hundred percent sure of.

She decided to go to Nico and see if he had any insight what her dream meant. And that is why they are now sitting in front of the host to the Oracle of Delphi.

“So, you need a prophecy?” Rachel asked as she sipped on a cup of coffee. “I can’t promise you that the Oracle will show herself, but you can try.” She said, brushing her long curly red hair behind her ear.

Lou Ellen turned to Nico before he nodded.

“Um… I need to know if Cedric Diggory is going to die?” Lou Ellen cautiously asked aloud. Rachel kept sipping on her coffee, and it did not look like anything was happening. Then a fog of green smoke started to flood the room, coming from Rachel as her eyes shifted and she stood up.

_“In the Tournament of Three,  
Four shall proceed,   
Two who shouldn’t be in the maze,   
Travel forth to the grave,   
For one to live the other must die,   
Resurrected before their eyes,   
The dark lord arises.”_

Rachel collapsed into the beanbag chair she had been sitting in a moment before.

She rubbed her head as she struggled to sit up.

Lou Ellen turned to Nico, a worried look plastered on her face.

“That bad?” Rachel asked weakly.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter IV: _Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_ _Teach us something please…_**

**Nico di Angelo** sat next to Lou Ellen on the couch in the middle of the living room in the Big House. He eyed the five adults in the room, all of whom were staring at Lou Ellen with a look of concern plastered on their faces.

It had been a week since Rachel/the Oracle of Delphi had given Lou Ellen the prophecy, one of which was ominous to say the least. They had immediately gone to Chiron about it and tried to plan their next steps carefully.

The only variable within the prophecy they were sure of was the first line referencing ‘The Tournament of Three’. Lou Ellen had immediately connected it to the upcoming ‘Triwizard Tournament’ hosted by the British magical school Hogwarts. Lou Ellen had said that she overheard her father and the Minister of Magic discussing it during the Quidditch World Cup which took place the night prior to her approaching the Oracle.

Lou Ellen wanted a quest to be assigned and go to Hogwarts, but Chiron and Mr. D. were hesitant to act so quickly.

And that is why Nico finds himself sitting next to Lou Ellen and half-paying attention to a meeting between Chiron, Mr. D., President Blackstone, Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, and Ilvermorny Headmistress Alexandra Russo.

“Albus, you have to call off the tournament.” Thomas pleaded with the old wizard dragging Nico out of his wondering thoughts.

The old wizard shook his head, “I agree that we should investigate the matter further, but I am afraid postponing the tournament is out of my control. Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman are overseeing the tournament, the Minister has made sure that they have full control of the games.” Dumbledore said, his voice sounding heavy and tired.

“I still don’t get why I’m here. Sure, the Oracle of Delphi gave a daughter of Hecate a prophecy, what does that have to do with me and Ilvermorny?” Headmistress Russo asked tapping her bright red wand on the side of the chair she was sitting in impatiently. She sat in the plushy green chair with her legs crossed on the cushion, clearly ignoring the typical house-guest etiquette.

Thomas sighed at the younger witch’s complaints. “Alex, please can we take this seriously?” Thomas asked the Headmistress.

She rolled her eyes before leaning back in her chair.

Alex Russo was by far the youngest of the group besides the demigods. Only recently placed in charge of the American magic school by the Ilvermorny Board of Governors (IBG). Lou Ellen told Nico the rifts the IBG caused with the MACUSA when they hired her were extensive and still felt nearly two years later. The MACUSA wanted someone from the Magical Congress to fill the spot while the IBG wanted a new fresh face to progress the school into the twenty-first century.

“If Professor Dumbledore is unable to call off the tournament, then I want to lead a quest to Hogwarts and see this prophecy through.” Lou Ellen assertively stated, standing up and looking directly at Chiron and Mr. D.

Mr. D. nearly choked on the Coke he was drinking. “You’re kidding, right?” Mr. D. asked walking over to Lou Ellen and then turning to face Chiron when he did not say anything. “Chiron, you cannot be seriously be thinking of sending Luna on a quest to Magical Britain, are you?” Mr. D. asked flabbergasted.

“For the love of Zeus, you know that is not my name!” Lou Ellen cried as a crack of thunder rumbled in the distance. “And since when do you care so much?”

Mr. D. quickly turned and pointed a finger Lou Ellen’s chest. “Girl, do not tempt me, for so help me, I will turn you into a dolphin and send you to the depths of-“

“Mr. D., please reframe from turning the subject of a prophecy into a sea animal. I don’t think the Fates would take kind to such… dramatic actions.” Chiron gently said coaxing the god of wine down.

Nico looked over to see Chiron holding Thomas’s arm preventing him from intervening with Dionysus.

He sharply looked between Chiron and Lou Ellen before letting out a loud yell in frustration. “Fine! If you want to tempt the Fates by sending another demigod to Europe on a quest, then so be it. But when something terrible happens because you cannot leave well enough alone, don’t come crying to me!” Mr. D. shouted before leaving the room grumbling about ‘stupid centaurs and idiotic children’.

Once Mr. D. had left Chiron turned back around to face Lou Ellen. “Mr. D. is right in that regard. Mr. di Angelo of all people know just how cruel the Fates can be to demigods who return to the ‘old world’. You won’t have the protection of the gods if you do choose to go onto this quest.” Chiron warned.

Thomas looked like he wanted to interject but Lou Ellen cut him off with a look.

“I want to lead this quest. One of our own could be in serious danger…” Lou Ellen said then turned to Dumbledore, “And if the prophecy does pretail the rise of Voldemort, then I _need_ to be there to stop him before he can hurt anyone else.” Lou Ellen said stoically.

“And if she chooses to take this quest, I will do everything in my power to aid in what ways I can.” Dumbledore pledged, placing a reassuring hand on Lou Ellen’s shoulder.

Lou Ellen turned to Alex Russo, “Which means I’m going to need to transfer to Hogwarts that way I can still graduate on time.” Lou Ellen told her Headmistress.

Alex waved her hand in a ‘whatever gesture’ before perking up. “Oh! I’m going to need your Head of House badge back, since you know… Apparently you have decided to trade up.” She added with a good amount of sass.

Lou Ellen bit her lip before pulling out a small red badge out of her pocket. She looked down at the metallic crest before throwing it at the young witch.

“I will send the paperwork by owl Albus. I will see you all, hopefully never.” Alex said before waving her wand and disappearing in a sparkly cloud.

“She is a very interesting young woman, now isn’t she?” Dumbledore asked earning a scoff from Thomas.

“And you wonder why the MACUSA did not want her instated as Headmaster.” Thomas said sarcastically.

“I think she’s cool.” Lou Ellen added shrugging her shoulders.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Thomas muttered.

Chiron let out a loud cough to get everyone’s attention back. “Now that we have Lou Ellen’s scholastic situation figured out, how do we want to proceed?”

Dumbledore stood up and clapped his hands together, “Who else will be accompany you Mrs. Blackstone?” The old man asked kindly.

Lou Ellen bit her lower lip before turning to Nico and gave him a small smile. Nico rolled his eyes before sighing, “Sure, why not.” He said.

“The prophecy referenced four people, and since the Triwizard Tournament only takes three champions, then it’s safe to assume that the prophecy was referencing four demigods.” Lou Ellen suggested, not completely sure of herself.

“That seems like a stretch.” Nico supplied, Lou Ellen shrugged her shoulders.

“I’m sure Will would want to join since you’re going.” Lou Ellen added.

“Then our fourth should be Malcolm since he’s already acquainted with the magical world.” Nico added.

“Or would Cedric be our fourth?” Lou Ellen asked.

Nico scratched his chin trying to come up with an answer, “I don’t know, but I think we should bring Malcolm.”

“You right, if he ever found out we went on a quest to save Pretty Boy without him…” Lou Ellen laughed before turning back to face Dumbledore, Chiron, and her father. “Nico di Angelo, Will Solace, Malcolm Pace, and myself will be attending Hogwarts this year. Or at least until the prophecy is fulfilled.”

Dumbledore nodded approvingly. “I will make sure all the proper paperwork is handled and start coming up with a cover story to tell the staff and students.” Dumbledore stated before shaking Chiron and Thomas’s hands. “This is where we depart for now. See you in the coming days.” Dumbledore cheerfully said before disappearing with a _crack._

“This is where I must also depart.” Thomas said to Chiron before approaching his daughter. “If you get the chance, Penny and I are planning to get married right before Christmas, and if you are able, I would love for you to be my best man-well erm, best woman.” Thomas said as he engulfed his daughter in a hug.

“Yeah, of course. Stay safe dad.” She said back before letting go.

“I was going to say the same to you.” Thomas said as he approached Nico and held out his hand for him to shake. “It was a pleasure to meet you, son of Hades.”

Nico shook it and gave him a polite nod.

And just like Dumbledore, Thomas disappeared with a _crack_ and left the two demigods with Chiron, and Seymour the wall mounted leopard who was asleep above the fireplace.

“I don’t think I need to remind you this, but even though you are going into another ‘secret world’, it is imperative that we keep the Hellenic world separate from the magical. I wouldn’t be able to list the number of cataclysmic events that would spawn from widespread knowledge of our world.” Chiron warned, leaning towards the two demigods to get his point across.

Nico and Lou Ellen both nodded nervously.

Chiron sighed before leaning back into his wheelchair. “Okay, go make sure Mr. Solace and Pace are willing to go onto this quest and make sure you grab everything you need.” Chiron softly said before exiting his wheelchair and trotting down the hall towards his room.

Nico led Lou Ellen out of the Big House and waited on the porch for her.

“So…” Nico said.

“So…” Lou Ellen huffed crossing her arms.

“How are we going about this? There’s a lot of technicalities with a quest this complex.” Nico muttered looking away towards darkening skies. If Nico had to wager a guess, he would assume Zeus and Hera were having another argument.

Lou Ellen scoffed at his remark. “You don’t say?” She muttered sarcastically. “I’m going to go ahead to London and get us a couple of rooms at the Leaky Cauldron-“ Lou Ellen held up her finger cutting Nico off before he could ask a question. “-It’s a pub and inn near the entrance to magical London. We’ll stay at the Cauldron tonight, grab our stuff tomorrow, and then be on the train to Hogwarts.”

Nico gave her an impressed look, “You have everything all laid out now don’t you?” He said giving her a small smile.

“I like to be prepared.” She smirked before whipping out her wand. “Go get Solace and Pace… and make sure they actually want to go, not that they have much of a choice anymore. See you in about twenty” She said before teleporting away like the other wizards had minutes earlier with a _crack_.

Nico let out a long sigh before walking down the path towards the Apollo Cabin.

Nico opened the door to the cabin and saw Will laying down on his bed, his head deep into a book. He knocked on the door frame gaining the blonde’s attention. Will looked up and flashed Nico his signature warm smile.

“Hey Neeks, what’s up?” He asked closing his book and sitting up on his bed.

Nico quickly walked over and sat down on the bed across from him. Nico looked over and saw the initials ‘TJK’ on the bed frame. Nico looked back to Will, who was starting to look slightly concerned.

“This TJ’s bunk?” Nico asked trying to buy himself time to figure out how to explain to Will what was going on.

Will looked over at the initials carved into the wooden frame. “I should go warn Sherlock, there’s another master detective living among us.” Will teased. “Seriously, what’s wrong?” Will asked worryingly.

“I might have volunteered you for a quest…” Nico nervously said quickly, flashing his boyfriend a small smile.

Will’s smile immediately dropped, and he looked slightly taken aback. “You did what?”

“I told Chiron and a bunch of wizards you would go with me on a quest…”

Will closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. “And when were you going to actually ask me about going on this supposed quest?” Will asked grabbing Nico’s hand.

“Isn’t that what I’m doing now?”

Will shook his head and leaned in to whisper into Nico’s ear. “Nope, try again.” He murmured.

Nico rolled his eyes, “William Solace, will you accompany me and Lou Ellen on a quest?” Nico asked.

“Lou Ellen and I, but yes. I would be honored.” Will said before kissing Nico on his cheek. “So, where are we going?”

Nico bit his lower lip. “Britain.” He said softly.

“Oh.” Will said slouching his shoulders slightly.

“Lou Ellen thinks that Cedric Diggory’s life could be in danger. That’s what prompted all of this, including the prophecy.” Nico explained.

“Are we bringing Malcolm along?” Will asked. “He and Cedric are pretty close, I’m sure he’s going to want to be in on this.”

Nico nodded his head, “He was my next stop.”

“When are we leaving?” Will asked and stood up to grab a duffle bag out from underneath his bunk.

Nico lightly patted Will’s back, “As soon as Lou Ellen gets back. So, in about fifteen minutes give or take.” Nico said quickly and walked out of the cabin before Will could respond.

Nico walked across the grass and approached Cabin Six. He stared up at the giant owl statue that sat above the door. He could have sworn the golden painted eyes on the bronze statue followed his movements.

The door opened and Nico quickly looked back at the doorway and was met with by the deadly gaze of Annabeth’s grey eyes.

“Hey Nico. What do you need?” She asked opening the door wide enough for him to step inside.

“Is Malcolm here?” He asked looking around the cabin.

The sound of papers rustling around and books falling caught Nico’s attention as he saw Malcolm quickly pick up some of the papers he knocked over.

“You rang?” Malcolm asked trying to hide his clumsiness with his ‘cool guy’ act.

“We’ve got a quest, go pack.” Nico ordered.

“Wait-what?” Annabeth and Malcolm asked at the same time.

“We’re going to Hogwarts. Lou Ellen got a prophecy from the Oracle. Figured you probably want to go…” Nico said.

“Ri-right, of course. When are we leaving?” Malcolm asked running over to his drawers and started throwing stuff into a backpack.

Nico pulled up the sleeve on his aviator jacket and checked his watch. “Ten minutes.” He quickly walked out of the cabin leaving Annabeth dumbfounded and Malcolm scrambling to gather his belongings.

Nico walked across camp and found Will standing next to Lou Ellen by the Hecate Cabin. She held a small wooden box in her hands and was showing it to Will.

Nico approached the two catching their attention.

“Did you get Malcolm?” Will asked.

Nico nodded his head. “He’ll be out in a minute.”

Lou Ellen nodded her head, “Good, good. I need to give you guys these.” She said gesturing to the box in her hands.

“And those are?” Will asked.

Lou Ellen opened the box and revealed three wooden sticks packed neatly inside, each a dark brown with wooden engravings etched into them.

“We’re getting magic wands?” Malcolm yelled racing over to the other three.

“Not exactly.” Lou Ellen said handing each of the boys a ‘wand’. “They’ll enhance your ability to manipulate the Mist.” Lou Ellen explained as she handed Nico the last ‘wand’.

“And…?” Malcolm asked, looking straight down the barrel of the wand.

Lou Ellen quickly grabbed Malcolm’s arm and pulled it away from his face. “For a son of Athena, you’re not exactly the brightest.” Lou Ellen mumbled.

Malcolm looked like he wanted to say something but didn’t.

“It’s no more powerful than an illusion. Just think of what you want it to do, and it will give off the illusion that you want. For instance, if you want to levitate something, just imagine it in your head and the Mist will do the rest. Even in the wizarding world, there’s enough Mist energy flowing through it to fool most mortals.” Lou Ellen explained as she grabbed the wand out of Malcolm’s hand to demonstrate. She flicked her wrist and a bright red light shot from the end of it and harmlessly hit the side of a cabin.

“And this goes without saying, but it won’t affect anyone who is clearsighted, they’ll see right through your little parlor trick.” Lou Ellen tacked on before handing Malcolm back his wand.

“How are we getting half-way across the planet?” Will asked.

“We’ll take the Floo-network from the Hecate Cabin to the Leaky Cauldron in London. I will hit Diagon Alley either tonight or early in the morning to get all of our supplies, and we’ll leave for the train right after.” Lou Ellen explained to the group. She pulled out her wand to shrink their luggage before throwing it all into a small purse she was carrying. “Let’s do this.”

*******

**Will Solace** yawned as he, Nico, and Malcolm finished up _The Lord of the Rings_ on Malcolm’s laptop.

A few hours earlier, Malcolm had knocked on the door to Will and Nico’s room in the Leaky Cauldron, wearing his signature red boxers and a Camp Half-Blood T-shirt.

Lou Ellen had gone out on her own to grab their school supplies from ‘Diagon Ally’. Lou Ellen had explained it as a street filled with magical shops behind the pub/inn they were staying the night in.

The three boys were all huddled on the bed, Nico and Will sitting up against the bed frame and Malcolm laying across the bottom of the bed eating a Pop-Tart.

“I still don’t get the point of the ring.” Nico murmured.

Will closed his eyes anticipating the long rant Malcolm would inevitably give.

“What do you mean you don’t get the point of the ring?” Malcolm asked in disbelief. “Did you even watch the intro?”

Nico didn’t respond to his accusations but just stared at the laptop.

“Hey Jules, can you turn the audio up, I can’t hear it over these two.” Will asked the Zombie who was holding the laptop at the end of the bed that way they could all see the screen.

Jules-Albert turned his head to Nico looking for his permission. Nico nodded his head approvingly.

“Should we feel bad that we’re forcing Jules-Albert to hold the computer and just stand there, or does he have feelings?” Will whispered to Nico.

Nico shrugged his shoulders in response, “It’s this or every day, race your best race only to blow it in the end. And repeat the same race, day in and day out in the Fields of Punishment.” Nico said aimlessly.

Will went wide-eyed, “Damn, remind me not to get on the list for the Field’s of Punishment.”

“I guess that should give you incentive not to cheat on me.” Nico said smirking up at him.

Will gave him a nervous laugh.

“I’m kidding, jeeze.” Nico said, “But not really.” He added with another smirk before turning back to the screen.

A loud knock on their door cut surprised the three making them instinctively jump before calming down a second later.

Malcolm quickly yanked his laptop from Jules-Albert’s grasp. Nico snapped his fingers dismissing the zombie in a black cloud.

Malcolm quickly walked over to the door and opened it revealing Lou Ellen tapping her foot impatiently.

“Come on, we’re going to miss the train!” She ordered gesturing for them to hurry up. Lou Ellen quickly glanced down at Malcolm. “And put some pants on.”

“Wait, where’s our stuff?” Will yelled after her.

Lou Ellen held up her bag. “We have to go through the No-Maj part of King’s Cross to get to the Hogwarts’ Express. This way, it will draw less attention to ourselves.”

“Obviously.” Nico muttered sarcastically.

Malcolm quickly followed Lou Ellen across the hall to their room to get dressed.

Will jumped out of the bed and walked over to gather his things that he had thrown lazily against the wall.

“Do you need me to grab your stuff?” Will asked Nico as he threw the strap of his duffle bag over his arm.

“No, I’m all packed.” Nico said pointing to his draw-string backpack hanging on the bedpost.

Will walked over to Nico and grabbed his bag for him, “In that case, let’s go and learn some magic.” Will said excitedly.

“I can take my own stuff.” Nico muttered attempting to take his bag from Will’s grasp.

“I know, but I wanna’.” Will cried wrapping his arm around Nico leading him to the door.

Nico shrugged out of his grip once Will opened the door.

Will frowned when Nico pulled away.

“What?” Nico asked while adjusting his jacket.

“You know what.” Will muttered walking to the end of the hall near the staircase waiting for Lou Ellen and Malcolm.

“I honestly don’t know. What’s wrong or what did I do?” Nico whispered.

Will sighed, “Every time we so much as open a door, it’s like you don’t want anything to do with me. It makes me feel like I’m back in the closet and it’s frustrating, because I really, really like you. But I need to know… are you embarrassed to be with me?” Will asked taking Nico aback.

Nico quickly shook his head, pushing a strand of hair from his eyes. “Will, no, no… Hades no.” Nico said worriedly grabbing Will’s hand before darting his eyes across the hall. Most likely to make sure there was no one lingering in the hall.

“It’s just, you know where I grew up. It’s hard to be someone like me-us. And-you know. Be comfortable.” Nico said. “Where I’m from, you and me, would never work, could never work.” Nico explained gripping Will’s hand tighter.

Will nodded before using his other hand to tilt Nico’s head up. “And you need to know that we aren’t in some backward thinking Italian town or socially conservative hell hole-“ Will started but quickly looked around the hallway. “Well, at least I don’t think that this is some sort of socially conservative hell hole, not exactly sure on the politics of the wizarding realm. But what I’m trying to say is, please don’t be afraid to be who you are, especially when you’re with me. Because I _dare_ , some random asshole to try and start something with _us_.” Will sternly stated squeezing Nico’s hand.

“It’s just, when I’m from, this wouldn’t be possible, and I’m scared that what we have will be taken away from me, from us.” Nico whispered.

Will tilted his head back in confusion, “What do you mean, _when you’re from_?” Will asked.

Nico let go of Will’s hand and stepped back. “Noth-nothing. What are you talking about?” Nico asked trying to deflect Will’s question.

“Nico, please don’t play this game with me, please just trust me.” Will pleaded flashing Nico a small reassuring smile.

“I do trust you, it’s just…” Nico trailed off looking down to his feet. “I’m originally from the Nineteen-thirties-“ Will held up his hand trying to get Nico to stop but he ignored him and kept talking. “-After Zeus killed our mother, Hades had Alecto send us to the Lotus Hotel and Casino, and we were there for like seventy years before we were shipped off to that boarding school in Maine. And that’s when Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia found me.” Nico explained quietly, not daring to look up at Will.

Nico opened his mouth to try and break the silence, but he was interrupted by Will pulling him into backbreaking hug.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you. _Herakles,_ I can’t even imagine going through something like that.” Will whispered soothingly into Nico’s ear.

“You’re not weirded out by all of that?” Nico asked.

Will shrugged his shoulders, “Honestly, this isn’t that weird compared to half the stuff we’ve done.”

Nico cracked a smirk as he pulled away from Will.

“There you two are. Hades, we’re going to miss the train.” Lou Ellen cursed as she and Malcolm quickly walked down the hallway. Nico and Will just watched as they descended the flight of stairs towards the pub.

“Are you two love birds coming or what?” Lou Ellen yelled. Nico and Will quickly followed her down the stairs.

 _‘Here we go.’_ Will thought to himself.

***

 **Will** stared at the brick wall in confusion along with Malcolm and Nico.

“You want us-“

“To run through-“

“A brick wall?”

The three boys asked the witch.

The four demigods stood on the platform between Nine and Ten, trying to blend in, as mortals rushed past them with their heads buried into their cell phones.

Lou Ellen rolled her eyes at the boys as she turned to run _through_ the brick column. She vanished as soon as she hit the brick wall leaving the boys gapping.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Malcolm called out and casually walked through the barrier, disappearing just like Lou Ellen.

Will looked over Nico who nodded and linked his arm with Nico’s and they both followed Malcolm through the brick wall. Will closed his eyes as they passed through the barrier, knowing that he was not going to pull a Jason and knock himself on the bricks, but he couldn’t help himself from flinching. He opened his eyes just as he and Nico nearly ran into the back of Malcolm who was staring, leaving his mouth hanging at the large red locomotive train on the tracks.

A red sign hung on the side of the wall with 9¾ written in bold black font.

“Welcome to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.” Lou Ellen proclaimed. “You boys go find us all a seat, I’m going to drop all of our luggage off.” Lou Ellen ordered, pointing to her purse.

Malcolm nodded and led Nico and Will on board. The carriage cars were all separated into compartments, with two benches facing one another. Each compartment looked like it could seat six comfortably.

They looked for an empty compartment but nearly all the compartments the trio had come across already had a one or two people in them.

So far only a couple of the other students had given them quick glances of confusion. Clearly not recognizing the three.

“Here’s an empty one!” Malcolm called out and flung open the sliding door revealing the empty compartment.

Malcolm slid into one of the benches. While Nico and Will sat down in the one across from him.

“Oh, I was supposed to give you these earlier.” Malcolm said handing Nico and Will two tickets that read ‘ _London to Hogwarts: One Way_ ’.

Both boys pocketed the tickets and tried to adjust themselves on the bench. Nico scooted over to lean up against the window and pulled his knees up in front of him so that he was sitting up completely on the bench.

“So much for our mannerisms.” Will teased looking at Nico as he groaned.

“We’re the only ones in here. And plus, my shoes are clean.” Nico whined picking up his foot to prove his point.

Lou Ellen barged into the compartment before Will could respond. The daughter of Hecate looked extremely flushed and annoyed.

“What happened?” Malcolm asked as she sat down next to him.

“Nothing.” She muttered as she cracked her knuckles making Nico flinch at the sound.

“Gods that sound is annoying.” Nico murmured only loud enough the Will could make out what he said.

Lou Ellen closed her eyes and sighed dramatically, “I ran into Malfoy and Malfoy Junior when I was boarding. Sorry, it’s just Lucius really pisses me off, and his son is a needy brat who won’t ever shut up. Lucius was trying to suck up to me, and I had to come up with some lame-ass excuse to get out of there.” She ranted balling her fists up as she continued to vent.

“That was the blondie that was with you at the World Cup right?” Malcolm asked.

“Yup.” Lou Ellen said, “Honestly, he wasn’t _completely_ intolerable when it was just the two of us, but when he’s with his dad, or really anyone else. He can be a complete asshole.”

Malcolm shook his head and peered out of the window tapping his foot impatiently. “Can this thing hurry up and go!”

“Patience isn’t really your strong suit is it?” Nico asked blandly, turning his head to face the son of Athena.

“I know you are not talking.” Malcolm retorted.

Nico shrugged his shoulders, “You tend to learn something or two about patience when you’re trapped inside a tiny bronze jar for days on end.” Nico nonchalantly stated before turning his head back to face Will.

Will placed a hand on Nico’s ankle and gave him a reassuring smile.

A knock on the compartment door drew everyone’s attention. A red headed girl was standing there with a nervous smile on her face and a tall lanky dark-haired boy stood behind her holding a potted plant, also looking nervous.

“Hi, you mind if we sit, everywhere else is full.” The girl asked before staring at Malcolm for a second. “Wait. Malcolm?”

“Ginny, right?” Malcolm asked.

“What are you doing here, I thought you attended Ilvermorny?” She asked. “Now to think of it, I don’t recognize any of you.” Ginny said.

Lou Ellen flashed the red head a smile and stood up. “Hi, I’m Lou Ellen, and these are Will, Nico, and I guess you already know Malcolm.” She introduced quickly glancing in confusion at Malcolm when she said his name. “We’re exchange students for the year from Ilvermorny.”

“Oh, didn’t know we were doing that, but it’s nice to meet you guys.” Ginny said with a giant smile across her face and she shook Lou Ellen’s hand. “So, do you mind if Neville and I sit?” She asked just as the carriage jerked forward and the station started to zip past the window.

“Oh! Right. Of course not.” Lou Ellen said turning around where she was just facing the three boys and closed her eyes in annoyance before sitting back down next to Malcolm. Will patted Nico’s legs to gesture for him to put them on the floor that way he could scoot over and let Neville sit down.

“So, how do you and Malcolm know one another?” Lou Ellen asked.

“We met at the World Cup. He and the Diggory’s portkeyed with us.” Ginny said.

Lou Ellen nodded, “And you’re Neville?” She asked the boy who was nervously looking down at his plant.

“Yuh-yeah. Neville Longbottom. I’m a Fourth Year in Gryffindor.” He stuttered.

“That’s cool, I’m going into my Seventh Year, Malcolm into his Sixth, and Nico and Will are going into their Fourth Year. We were all also in Thunderbird House at Ilvermorny.” Lou Ellen explained effortlessly. Already working their cover stories, which she had completely come up with all on her own. “How about you Ginny?”

“Oh, I’m also in Gryffindor, but I’m in my Third Year.” Ginny said before staring at Lou Ellen for a moment. “You wouldn’t happen to be Lou Ellen Blackstone, would you?” Ginny asked.

Lou Ellen flinched, “Yes…”

“Oh my God! I’ve followed your Quidditch career for a few years now. I thought you looked familiar, but I’ve only seen pictures of you in full gear. You’re the first female seeker to catch a snitch at the U-Seventeen World Cup!” Ginny excitedly exclaimed.

“Oh, I didn’t take you for a huge Quidditch person.” Lou Ellen said turning to completely face Ginny.

Nico leaned in to whisper in Will’s ear, “What is happening? I’m confused.”

Will shrugged his shoulders, “You and me both, I’m just going with the flow.” He whispered back.

Will yawned before leaning his head down on Nico’s shoulder. “I’m going to catch some Z’s, hope you don’t mind.” Will said with another yawn and closed his eyes. He felt Nico give him a small pat on the leg before he slowly drifted off.

***

 **Cedric Diggory** sat at his house table next to Ernie Macmillan and Zacharias Smith, patiently waiting for the First Years to enter the Great Hall. Although he and Ernie did not talk much, Zacharias was best friends with Ernie and because of that wherever Zacharias was, Ernie was not too far behind.

“Any word on what’s going on this year? Mum’s been keeping it a secret from me.” Ernie asked, tapping his butter knife on the table impatiently. “Cedric?” Zacharias asked when Cedric did not acknowledge him.

“Hm, what?” Cedric asked suddenly, snapping out of his thoughts.

“Something going on?” Zacharias asked.

“No, not really, I was just thinking about something.” Cedric said turning his attention completely to the younger Hufflepuff.

“About…?”

“It’s nothing, I just thought I saw someone I know back at the train station in Hogsmeade. But that would be impossible because she goes to Ilvermorny.” Cedric said, internally fearing that he was either hallucinating or that the daughter of Hecate was at Hogwarts.

“Well, alright then.” Zacharias said turning his head to look at the sound of the giant wooden doors opening revealing Professor McGonagall leading the first years into the Great Hall… With four older teens trailing them.

Cedric had to rub his eyes to make sure he was not seeing things.

“What do you reckon that’s about?” Ernie whispered leaning in closer to Cedric that way he could see the new arrivals through the gaps between the students sitting at the Gryffindor table next to theirs.

“Nothing good I bet.” Cedric whispered, not realizing he had said it out loud. But Ernie and Zacharias were to busy trying to get a good look at the four newcomers.

Cedric instantly saw Will and Lou Ellen, both towering over everyone else. He spotted Nico standing on the other side of Will, and his eyes finally landed on Malcolm, blocked by Lou Ellen and the crowd of Gryffindors sitting in front of him. Cedric wasn’t sure if he should be happy to see the son of Athena or pissed that he did not inform him of this little… adventure they were on.

Professor Dumbledore quickly walked to the podium and gestured for everyone to be silent.

“Good evening students!” The Headmaster began, drawing everyone’s attention. “Now, I know that we typically start with the Sorting Ceremony, but things this year are going to be a little different.” Dumbledore said, his gaze falling onto nearly every student as he spoke.

“First and foremost, I would like to welcome everyone back, and to our newcomers, welcome to your first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For those of you who do not know me, I am Professor Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts. Like I said before, this year will be quite different and unique compared to the previous years. I would first like to welcome four students who will be joining us this term from the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Massachusetts. They will be attending classes just as they would be back at their home school. I hope you all will give them a warm Hogwarts welcome.”

 _‘Malcolm, what in the Hades have you gotten yourself into?’_ Cedric thought to himself as Dumbledore continued to go through the usual announcements, and the staff replacements.

“And finally, this year, I regret to inform you all, there will be no Quidditch matches-“

Cedric, along with nearly every other student in the hall erupted into chaos and ‘boos’ at the sudden announcement. Cedric could hear the Weasley twins yelling over everyone else in anger. Shouting some not so… pleasant analogies at the Headmaster.

Dumbledore raised his wand to his throat to amplify his voice. “Silence!” He shouted quieting the hall.

“As I was saying, this year, there will be no Quidditch, but we have replaced it with-“

Dumbledore gestured towards the doors to the Great Hall and Argus Filch pulled in a large object, covered by a blue cloth, up to the dais Dumbledore was standing on.

“The Triwizard Tournament!” And with a flick of his wand the cloth shot up and disappeared revealing a large silver and blue cup with the words ‘Triwizard’ etched into the crystal.

Another round of murmurs echoed throughout the hall. Cedric sat there in silence, trying to process the information.

“Mr. Bagman and Crouch, who are representing the Ministry and who are in complete control of the Tournament will go into further rules and details after the feast. But for now, Professor McGonagall, I believe we have some eager First Years and American guests who wish to know which House they will be in.” Dumbledore said gesturing to the Deputy Headmistress.

McGonagall nodded and pulled out a large scroll and removed the Sorting Hat from the stool it was sitting on.

McGonagall sorted the First Years, first, but Cedric was too busy staring at the demigods to process who was sorted into which house, he only clapped whenever he heard everyone else do the same.

“Blackstone, Lou Ellen!” McGonagall yelled and Lou Ellen effortlessly walked up to the stool and sat down. The hat was only on her head for a few seconds before it yelled “ _Slytherin!_ ”

Everyone respectfully clapped while the Slytherin table started freaking out that the daughter of the President of the MACUSA was sorted into their house.

“Di Angelo, Nico!” McGonagall called silencing everyone as they stared at the youngest of the group. He nervously walked up the steps, nearly tripping in his robe as he ascended.

“Five Sickles say he’s Slytherin.” Cedric heard Ernie whisper to Zacharias.

“I’ll take that bet.” Zacharias replied back.

Cedric snorted. “A Galleon says he goes to Gryffindor.” He muttered catching Ernie off guard.

“Alright big man, you’re on.” Ernie replied right as the Sorting Hat shouted, “Gryffindor.”

Everyone in the Hall politely clapped, except the Gryffindors who were cheering, rightfully so, louder than everyone else.

“Pace, Malcolm!” McGonagall called and Malcolm adjusted his glasses before making the climb up to the Sorting Hat.

‘ _I swear to Olympus, if you are in Ra-‘_

“Ravenclaw!” The hat shouted seconds after being placed on the blonde’s head.

Cedric clapped louder than he probably should have, drawing Ernie, Zacharias’s, and a couple of the other Hufflepuff’s attention.

“What?” Cedric asked, trying to play it off.

“Me thinks this one might be pinning after the toned blonde from America.” Zacharias teased.

“I think you might be onto something Zach.” Ernie added.

“Ah come off it.” Cedric muttered, missing the fact that Will had been called up to the hat.

“ _Hufflepuff!_ ” The hat called and the table stood up in cheers as Will made his way over to the table.

“Ernie, move over.” Cedric ordered as he waved for Will to come over to him.

“What, why?” Ernie asked confused.

“Just do it.” Cedric ordered and Ernie begrudgingly pushed Hannah Abbot over that way Will could sit next to Cedric.

“You two know each other?” Zacharias asked as Will nervously sat down.

“Yeah, we attended the same Quidditch camp over the summer. That’s why I was staring at them. Because I knew them. I told you I thought I recognized one of them earlier.” Cedric said trying to quickly come up with a cover story on the fly. Zacharias must have bought it because he dropped his questioning.

Cedric quickly turned to face Will, “ _What the fuck are you doing here?”_ He whispered to the son of Apollo.

Will held up his hand in slight surprise. “Well, hello to you too.”

“Sorry, but seriously, why are you guys here, what’s going on?” Cedric asked, masking his intense questioning by sipping on his pumpkin juice.

Will picked up his goblet, “Lou Ellen received a prophecy from the Oracle, and it referenced the Triwizard Tournament. Lou Ellen and Chiron pulled some strings with the Gandalf wannabe up there and her Headmistress and here we are. Lou Ellen even gave us these cool fake wands that manipulate the Mist to make it look like we are actually doing magic.” Will said quietly flashing Cedric his wand before putting it back into his robe.

“Well then, Lou Ellen really thought of everything.” Cedric muttered.

Will laughed as he started sipping on his drink and immediately spat it out. “Ewww, what is this?”

Cedric chuckled, “Pumpkin juice.”

Will turned to him with a slight look of horror on his face. “That is genuinely the grossest thing I have ever heard of in my life.”

“You guys don’t have pumpkin juice back in America?” Ernie asked Will.

“Can’t say that we do.” Will replied before digging into his food.

Zacharias and Ernie both laughed at his answer while Cedric looked over his shoulder across the hall looking for Malcolm. He was still sitting in the same spot eating his food while conversating with a couple of the new First Years. Malcolm looked up, almost as if he could feel Cedric’s gaze on him.

Malcolm smiled at him and gave him a small wave. Cedric returned the gesture. Zacharias tugged on his robe, “What?” Cedric snapped.

Zacharias held his hands up defensively. “Woah, bite my head off why don’t you?”

“Sorry, I was just in the middle of-Doesn’t matter, what did you need?” Cedric asked.

“Oh, um… I forget.” Zacharias smirked nervously.

Cedric rolled his eyes and went back to eating his food.

Barty Crouch approached the dais as everyone continued to eat and started to ramble off some of the other details about the Triwizard tournament. The hall erupted into ‘boos’ and complaints when Crouch announced that only wizards and witches of age could place their name into the Goblet of Fire.

“Are you going to put your name in?” Will asked.

Cedric shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t see why not.”

Will sighed, “Just, talk to Lou Ellen before you do it. Something has her triggered about all of this, and she won’t say what.” Will muttered while peeling off a piece of his roll and scarfing it down.

Cedric nodded and turned back to the dais when Dumbledore reproached the podium.

“Thank you, Mr. Crouch. Now, as this is the ‘Triwizard’ Tournament, we will be joined by two other magical schools this year. The Durmstrang Institute located in the far north of Europe, and the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic from France. Both schools will be joining us in October and will have the opportunity to place their names into the Goblet of Fire. The champions will be selected on the evening of Halloween.” Dumbledore explained glancing around the room. “And with that, Prefects, please lead your Houses back to your dormitories!” Dumbledore concluded clapping his hands together cheerfully.

“Well. Here we go.” Will stated.

“Yep-“ Cedric agreed glancing back to Malcolm. “Here we go.”


	5. Chapter V: I believe the Politically Correct Term is Oculo-Impaired

**Chapter V: _I believe the Politically Correct Term is Oculo-Impaired_**

**Malcolm Pace** sat at the Ravenclaw table in the Great Hall enjoying his lunch. He only had one class in the morning, History of Magic, which was taught by a ghost; He had eagerly read through the first couple of chapters of his history book on the train. Making sure that he was not going into the class completely blind, and he was beyond curious about the history of the wizarding world.

He tried to pay as much attention in the class as possible, but the Weasley twins immediately sat down beside him and became his self-described Hogwarts gurus. They claimed that their main objective was to make sure that he had an easy transition into Hogwarts life, and managed to have as much ‘fun’ as possible.

He accepted their proposition, if only to get them to shut up that way he could pay attention to Professor Binns explaining the origins of prejudice and distrust between ‘Muggles’ and the magic community during the Fifteenth Century.

“How’s your first day going?” Clara asked sitting down next to Malcolm. Clara is a sixth year in his house, they had met earlier in the morning when Malcolm got lost. She’s been his unofficial tour guide since then.

“Not too bad. Fred and George have been helping me out where they can.” Malcolm said pointing his head in the direction of the Weasley’s who were huddled around some type of contraption.

Clara snorted, “Just be careful around them, they’re known for schemes which usually result in detentions, and point reductions for their house.”

“Noted.” Malcolm said and turned back to his food.

Clara gave him a pat on the back of his shoulder before standing up and walking over to a group of girls sitting further down the table.

“Ah, Clara McGovern, we dated for a good portion of my fourth year.” Cedric’s voice suddenly intruded making Malcolm jump in his seat and nearly choke on his sandwich.

“Cedric-“ Malcolm said coughing and turning his head to see the taller brunette sit down next to him.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” He apologized as he straddled the bench facing Malcolm.

“Na-no, why would-“ Malcolm took in a deep breath, “You did not scare me. Just… surprised is all.”

Cedric smiled as he tried to contain his laughter. “I tried to catch you at breakfast, but I didn’t see you.”

“Oh, I skipped, I wanted to try to explore as much of the castle as I could.” Malcolm stated as he looked away from Cedric.

“In other words, you got lost.” Cedric said tilting his head slightly.

“What-no.” Malcolm lied before looking down, “Okay, yes, maybe. That’s how I ran into Clara and she and the Weasley twins have been helping me out since then.”

“Well-“ Cedric started as he eyed Malcolm’s schedule laying on top of his potions textbook and reached for the piece of parchment. “-since it appears that we both have a free period and double potions together this afternoon. What do you say that the two of us do some exploring after you eat?” Cedric asked handing Malcolm back his schedule.

“I’m good now if you’re ready?” Malcolm responded, quicker than he meant too.

“You sure?” Cedric asked eyeing Malcolm’s half eaten sandwich.

“Yep.” Malcolm said as he gathered his trash and looked around the large hall. “Where’s the trash at?” He asked.

“Leave it, the House Elves will get it later.” Cedric said standing up and offering his hand to Malcolm helping him up.

“The what now?”

“Think of them like the Harpies back at camp, but they won’t eat you if you’re out after curfew.” Cedric laughed as they made their way out of the Great Hall.

“Oh.” Malcolm said. “Where are we going?”

“I figured we would explore the grounds first. Nice weather and there’s no eavesdropping kids or ghosts lurking around the corners.” Cedric laughed as he led Malcolm outside and towards a large wooden bridge.

“Wow.” Malcolm said as he looked at the bridge. “This thing’s gigantic."

Cedric shrugged his shoulders. But they kept walking down the long-covered bridge. They eventually made it to a stone building where large rolling green hills met them on the other side.

“If you go down that way, it will lead you to the Quidditch pitch. Over there is Professor Hagrid’s hut, he teaches Care of Magical Creatures. And behind that is the Forbidden Forest.” Cedric said pointing to each of the locations.

“Wow.” Malcolm said again trying to take all the surroundings in. He walked up to one of the large stones which sat on the hill and leaned up against it as he continued to look around the grounds.

Cedric walked up beside him and patted his back, “Come on, there’s something else I want to show you.”

Malcolm nodded and followed the son of Aphrodite down the rolling hill and towards the dense forest.

“Uh, Cedric. Why are we heading into the place that is literally called _The Forbidden Forest_?” Malcolm asked as they entered the woods.

“Come on, we’re two demigods. I’m pretty sure we’ve fought worse than anything in these woods.” Cedric said nonchalantly. “And plus, I go through here quite often, the scariest thing I’ve come across was some deer.” Cedric laughed gently dragging Malcolm towards the woods.

Malcolm instinctively placed his hand on his hip where his sword was sheathed and concealed by the Mist as they got closer.

They kept walking for another two miles. They had yet to come across anything which warranted such a dramatic name for the forest. Malcolm glanced down at his watch a few minutes later. “Hey, we have just over an hour until class.”

“I know, don’t worry, it’s just right up here.” Cedric said raising his wrist to show that he was keeping time as well.

Malcolm shook his head before he glanced down at his pants leg, “Ahhh!” He screamed as a large spider crawled up his right leg.

Cedric immediately turned around with his wand drawn. “What?” He asked looking around rapidly.

“Sp-Sp-Spider.” Malcolm cried staring at the large arachnid in terror.

Cedric looked down at his leg, “Okay, I got it.” He said gently while walking slowly towards Malcolm and kneeling down.

The spider started crawling further up Malcolm who genuinely looked terrified and almost looked like he wanted to start crying.

“ _Wingardium Leviosa.”_ He whispered and lifted the spider up, levitating it in midair. Malcolm slowly backed in a circle until he was behind Cedric.

Cedric curiously watched the arachnid dance in air before harshly flinging his arm and send the spider flying through the woods.

Cedric put away his wand and turned to face Malcolm who was dabbing his eyes. “Hey, you okay?” He asked while starting to reach for Malcolm’s arm, but pulled away.

“Yeah I’m fine.” He said defensively. “And I’m not crying.” He added.

“Never said you were.” Cedric replied.

Malcolm clinched his fists as he looked down at the ground. “It wanted to kill me.” Malcolm muttered.

Cedric looked at him confused. “Malcolm, it was a spider… Not a monster.”

Malcolm shook his head. “No, it wanted to kill me. Usually I can handle it, but ever since Percy and Annabeth sent Arachne to Tartarus, her spider-lings have been plotting their revenge on the children of Athena.” Malcolm said rubbing his arms.

“What are you talking about?” Cedric asked.

“Arachne, mother of spiders. She’s had it out for the children for Athena ever since mom turned her into spider. And now that Annabeth’s sent her straight to Tartarus, they’ve vowed to have their revenge.” Malcolm quietly explained, constantly looking around to make sure that there were no other spiders crawling around.

“I had no idea. That honestly sounds like the most terrifying thing ever.” Cedric said, not exactly sure how he should either comfort or reassure the son of Athena.

Malcolm nodded while keeping his gaze to the ground.

“We can head back if you want, but the place I want to show you is just up here if you’re still up for it?” Cedric said softly.

Malcolm looked up at him, “I’m good. Come on, we’ll just have to walk fast on the way back.” Malcolm continued on down the path for about ten feet before stopping and turning back to Cedric. “You should probably lead the way.” Malcolm said remembering he had been the one following Cedric.

Cedric quickly walked up to Malcolm and lead the way through the forest. About five minuets later the dirt under their feet started to turn to sand and a clearing opened up in the dense woods. Malcolm stopped in his tracks and stared at the sight in front of him.

A shallow blue pond engulfed the entirety of the clearing bordered by a small sandy beach. The water from the pond ran off into a small stream leading through the Forbidden Forest. Directly across from the two, about fifty feet away, a large rocky cliff formation bordered the pond with a small waterfall running down it. Malcolm guessed it was around sixty or seventy feet tall. The shiny gray rocks reflected the sunlight allowing a rainbow to form from the falling water. Large evergreen trees sat at the top of the cliff enclosing the area in a sea of green.

“This… Wow.” Malcolm said amazed, not taking his eyes away from the magnificent sight. He effortlessly threw his backpack at a tree, not taking his eyes off the sight before him.

“Yeah, I found this during my Fourth Year. I come here to get away from everything.” Cedric said taking his shoes off and sat down on an eroded stone in the sand and put his feet into the shallow water.

Malcolm looked closer at the cliff formation, noticing a glimmer coming from rocks near the bottom of the cliff not too far off from the waterfall.

“Hey. Do you see that?” Malcolm asked pointing at the cliff.

Cedric stood up and squinted in the direction Malcolm was pointing, “Yeah, I notice it too.” He said pulling out his wand. “Could be a glamour charm.” He suggested.

“Or the Mist.” Malcolm supplied and placed his hand on his hip.

Cedric started to walk through the water, rolling his pant legs up to his knees before carefully approaching the cliff side. Malcolm muttered curses as he struggled to kick his shoes off and adjusting his pants that way, he wouldn’t get wet. He figured Cedric knew a spell to dry them off, but walking in the water with wet pants was still annoying.

Cedric stopped about ten feet from the rocky cliff before bringing his wand up, “ _Revelio_ ”

Malcolm unsheathed his blade when the rocks in front of them started to shimmer and they disappeared revealing a large dark crevasse in the wall.

The entrance to the cave was probably about fifteen feet high and half as wide.

“ _Lumos._ ” Cedric muttered and the tip of his wand lit up and he proceeded into the cave.

“ _Cedric!”_ Malcolm hissed. “I don’t think walking in blindly into a _hidden_ cave is the wisest of ideas.” Malcolm supplied as he also brought out his wand. He imagined the tip of it lighting up just like Cedric had done and the Mist did his very command. “I swear, if you get us kill-“

Malcolm was interrupted by Cedric running back out of the cave pulling his arm as he ran past Malcolm and dragged him out of the cave.

“What did you do.” Malcolm asked as he pulled away from Cedric’s grip and the two boys turned back to face the cave.

“We might have stumbled across a cyclops.” Cedric muttered pointing his wand back at the cave once they distanced themselves.

A large leathery brown hand grabbed the side of the cave entrance and stumbled out of the cave. The cyclops was at least eighteen feet tall, wearing a loin cloth and carried a large wooden club.

“I believe the politically correct term is oculo-impaired.” Malcolm muttered.

“I think we should probably-“

The cyclops let out a monstrous roar and turned to face the demigods.

“Who dares wake The Lightning Bringer?” The monster yelled slamming his club down violently, a geyser of water erupting from the impact. “For I am Steropes, elder Cyclops and forger of weapons!” He roared.

Cedric glanced at Malcolm, “Any wise ideas?”

“Uhh-Watch out!” Malcolm yelled pushing Cedric aside when Steropes slammed his club down again and a shockwave of water raced towards them.

Cedric and Malcolm dodged the blast as it slammed into a tree, causing it to fall over with a loud ‘thud’.

The boys flinched at the noise before turning back to Steropes.

‘ _Well, we really stepped into it this time.’_ Malcolm thought to himself, summoning his bow.

***

 **Nico di Angelo** sat in the third row of the cluttered Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. He and his fellow Gryffindor Fourth Years already had Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall before lunch with the Ravenclaws.

He managed to test out his wand and its effectiveness to fool the other wizards in the room. Spoiler alert, it did work. He successfully managed to transform a hedgehog into a pincushion. Why anyone would want to do that still baffled Nico. But by doing so, he unintentionally drew attention to himself with the spell. Apparently, it was a difficult spell to master and the only other student who came close was Hermione Granger.

Nico played it off by saying he learned the spell the year before, but he mentally noted to make sure he _failed_ to produce a spell here and there to throw off any more suspicion.

Harry Potter had sat down at the table in front of him. Nico felt a pull towards the dark-haired teen. Something felt extremely off with the boy. Lou Ellen had told him the tale of how he had survived an ‘assassination’ attempt by Voldemort over thirteen years earlier. But this pull did not feel like someone surviving death, but something trying to escape it. Nico first felt the pull the night prior, but he chalked it off to the vast number of ghosts roaming the castle. But there were no ghosts to be seen. Although, Nico wouldn’t be surprised if there were a ghost or two in the room, it felt haunted enough.

Harry must have felt Nico’s gaze on him and turned his head to look at the son of Hades. Nico quickly put his head down and started to pull out his quill and parchment. A minute later a few more Gryffindors took their seats, eventually Hermione Granger walked into the room with Ron Weasley, arguing over something. By the time they reached the front of the room Ron threw his hands up in frustration and sat down next to Harry. Hermione huffed and took the empty seat next Nico.

She inhaled deeply before turning to face Nico with a bright smile on her face.

“Hi Nico, how are you enjoying Hogwarts so far?” She asked kindly while pulling out her textbook from her bag.

Nico shrugged his shoulders, “So far so good.” He answered simply. Hermione nodded her head clearly looking for a more in-depth answer. “Ask me again once we start getting homework.” He added with a small smirk making the bushy haired girl laugh.

Harry and Ron both turned to face the two when they heard Hermione laugh. They looked at Nico accusingly before quickly turning around when the metal legged Professor barged into the classroom.

“This is Fourth Year Defense Against the Dark Arts, if you are neither a Fourth Year, or supposed to be in Defense Against the Dark Arts, get out! Or stay, I really don’t care.” Professor Moody shouted as he limped his way to the front of the classroom. His metal leg clanking as he made his way forward. “Who knows, maybe you’ll learn something either way.”

His enchanted eye landed on Nico and stared at him for a few moments before it quickly moved its gaze onto Harry.

Moody shook his head violently before grabbing a piece of chalk and violently scribbling his name on the blackboard.

“For those of you who don’t know; I am Professor Alastor Moody, I’m only here because Dumbledore asked me too. Any questions? No? Good.” He introduced quickly and began quickly scribbling on the board again. “Now, who can tell me how many _unforgivable_ curses there are?” Moody asked the class.

Nico bit his lip trying to figure out what kind of spells could illicit such a dramatic name.

“Three sir.” Hermione’s voice spoke up.

“And they’re so named?” He asked writing on the board again.

“Because they are unforgivable; The use of anyone of them…-“

“Will earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban!” Moody finished turning back to the class.

Everyone looked around the room, unsure of what to say, but Hermione’s hand eventually shot up, followed by a couple of the other students. Ron’s hand was the last to slowly raise and Moody pointed to him. “You, what’s your name?”

Ron slowly stood up, quaking slightly as he kept his head down, “Ra-Ron Weasley.” He stammered. “My dad told me about the _Imperius Curse,_ and how it controls people.”

Hermione sat back in her chair, almost impressed.

“Ah, Weasley. Your father would know a thing or two about the Imperious.” Moody said and turned to the long wooden table behind him where several jars held spider like creatures.

He opened one of the jars and allowed the spider to crawl onto his hand. Nico grimaced at the thought of the creature crawling all over him like that. He didn’t have arachnophobia or anything, but he would be crazy to let the creature crawl all over him like Moody was doing.

Moody placed the spider on Ron’s desk. “ _Engorgio_.”

The spider increased in size and started to crawl towards Ron, who looked ready to faint.

“ _Imperio._ ” Moody commanded and the spider started to dance at his command.

Everyone in the class started to chuckle at the helpless spider. Nico cracked a smile at the creature. But he tilted his head, staring directly at the creature.

Moody started to go into details about the curse, but Nico tuned him out, mesmerized by the spider. He really started to think about just how helpless the creature was. How it was at the whim of Moody control, unable to move for itself.

Another round of laughter drew Nico’s attention to Moody throwing the spider around the classroom, tormenting some of the other students.

“Think that’s funny now don’t you?” Moody asked jokingly and then flung the spider towards the window, “How about if I send her flying to her death?” Moody asked and the chuckles in the room quieted. “Drown her?” Moody flung the spider towards a bowl of water and hovered the distressing creature directly above the liquid. The spider looked like it was trying to dive straight down into the water, and the only thing keeping it out was Moody’s levitation spell.

After the class had gone completely silent, Moody brought the spider back to the front of the room and gently sat it down on the counter.

“Scores of witches and wizards claimed that they only did, You-Know-Who’s bidding under the influence of the Imperius Curse.” Moody explained pacing the front of the room menacingly.

“So, how do we weed out the liars from those telling the truth?” Moody asked. No one raised their hands as he went back to pacing the front of the classroom. “Another? Another?” He asked.

Slowly most of the students in the room started to raise their hands. Neville Longbottom was the last to raise his hand and Moody gestured to him. “Longbottom is it? Up.” Moody commanded and the Gryffindor slowly raised, he only looked mildly nervous, but Nico could feel his nerves from where he was sitting.

“Professor Sprout tells me you have an aptitude for Herbology.”

Neville ignored his compliment, or was too nervous to comprehend it.

“There is-is the Cruciatus Curse-“

“Correct!” Moody yelled cheerfully. “Come, come!” Moody commanded and planted Neville directly in front of the spider sitting on top of the desk.

Nearly all the other students were on the edge of their seats, trying to get a closer look. Nico heard Hermione muttering under her breath at how unprofessional and dangerous demonstrating these curses was.

Moody drew his wand and pointed it directly at the spider. “The torture curse.” Moody murmured. “ _Crucio!_ ”

The spider started to flail and scream in pain from the curse. Neville even looked to be affected by it, wincing as if he was suffering the same fate as the arachnid.

Hermione looked around the room, desperate for someone to intervene. Nico was about to speak up but Hermione slammed her hand down on the desk, making Nico jump in surprise.

“Stop it! Can’t you see it’s bothering him? Stop it!” She yelled. Moody didn’t look up from what he was doing, almost as if he were enjoying it himself. Eventually he glanced at Hermione and quickly pulled his wand away.

He gulped before gesturing to Neville to take his seat.

Moody picked up the spider and walked over to Nico and Hermione’s desk.

“Perhaps, Mrs. Granger, you could tell us the last unforgivable curse?” Moody asked planting the spider in front of the two Gryffindors.

Hermione quickly shook her head, looking extremely uncomfortable. “No?” He turned away before sharply drawing his wand, “ _Avada Kedarva_!” And a brilliant blast of green light snuffed the life out of the spider.

Nico stared at the lifeless husk of the creature, unable to move or take his eyes off it.

“The killing curse. Only one person has known to survive it. And he’s sitting in this room.” Moody mysteriously said and started to creep towards Harry.

Once he was directly in front of the kid, he just stared at him, then suddenly he started to lick his lips and quickly turned away to down whatever was in his flask. He shook his head violently before dismissing class.

Neville was the first person to practically sprint out of class, clearly upset from the whole situation. Nico gathered his materials while Harry and Ron approached his table, eagerly waiting on Hermione to put all her materials back into her bag.

“The nerve. I’ve never seen a professor act so irresponsibly.” Hermione sneered quietly, eyeing Moody making sure that he couldn’t hear her.

The three quickly made their way out of the classroom and Nico followed not too far behind. Mainly because didn’t know how to get to their next class, and he knew they all had the same schedule.

Nico nearly tripped down the stairs when he felt a hand gently placed on his back. “Ah!” Nico yelp and turned to see Will hold his hands up defensively.

“Sorry.” He responded.

“Oh, hey.” Nico responded calmly and continued down the stairs.

“I got out of Herbology early, thought I would surprise you.” He said before quickly pulling Nico up against the wall as Professor Moody quickly stormed down the staircase.

“He’s a pleasant one.” Will muttered sarcastically.

Nico looked up at him, “You have no idea.”

“We have Care of Magical Creatures together next, right?” Will asked changing the subject as they continued down the spiraling staircase.

“Yeah, I think all the Fourth Years have it together.” Nico replied, stepping aside just as Moody charged back up the staircase with Neville right behind him.

“ _Herakles_ , what happened in there?” Will asked eyeing Neville and his ghostly look as he passed the two.

“When do you have Defense Against the Dark Arts?” Nico asked.

“Tomorrow, same time you had it.” Will responded.

“If it’s the same lesson that we had, just be prepared to witness some of the worse curses that exist in the magical world.” Nico said darkly.

“Great, that sounds just wonderful.” Will muttered and the two followed the rest of the Fourth Years through the long castle hallways.

***

 **“Hey ugly!” Cedric yelled** , sitting up in the water and fired off a spell hitting the Cyclops on the side of the head. It didn’t appear to harm the monster, just annoy it.

Steropes roared and charged Cedric who rolled in the water, dodging the monster. The Cyclops ran headfirst into a tree, unable to stop his momentum and stood dazed.

Two arrows flew just above Cedric’s head hitting Steropes in the arm. He roared in annoyance and brushed the arrows off his arm.

Cedric turned his head to see Malcolm knocking another arrow and launching it. Cedric gave him a nod before turning back around and threw up a shield spell just as Steropes picked up a large tree branch and flung it at Cedric.

The tree branch exploded into a rain of splinters when it hit the shield. Cedric dropped the orange shield and fell back in line with Malcolm.

"Any bright ideas?" Cedric asked firing off a blasting charm knocking the Cyclops back.

“Typically, a Cyclops will go down once we can penetrate its skin, but Steropes is essentially a god, I don’t even know if we _can_ defeat him.” Malcolm said firing another arrow towards Steropes head, but it flew just right of his head. “I would say that our best bet is to go for the eye.”

Cedric inhaled deeply trying to catch his breath before looking down at the water, “I have an idea, its probably not going to work but-“

“Just go for it!” Malcolm yelled throwing his bow over his shoulder once he ran out of arrows and drew his sword.

“ _Lumos Maxima_!” Cedric yelled firing the blinding light at Steropes.

Steropes stumbled as he rubbed his eye and roared in anguish.

“ _Bombarda Maxima!_ ” A large wall of water exploded at Steropes’ feet. The wall of water was high enough that it towered over Steropes.

As the water fell Cedric followed up with a freezing spell, trapping Steropes in ice thick enough to keep him from moving.

“Ready?” Cedric yelled.

Malcolm stared at him in confusion as he pointed his wand at Malcolm.

“What are you-

“ _Asendio!_ ”

“Ahhhh!“

Cedric launched Malcolm directly towards the frozen Cyclops. Malcolm caught Steropes’ shoulder with his free hand, stopping his momentum and slamming hard into Steropes’ back.

“Ow.” Malcolm moaned as he stabbed Steropes’ other icy shoulder trying to climb up the giant Cyclops. The ice started to crack underneath Malcolm as he tried to navigate the large monster.

“Hurry up!” Cedric yelled up to him, using a spell to try and hold Steropes in place. Cedric and his magic might be strong, but Steropes was proving to be stronger as he continued to shake out of Cedric’s magical grip.

“Malcolm, hurry!” Cedric yelled through gritted teeth. He could feel himself start to tire, his arms felt like weights were attached to him, dragging his arms down. He flicked his wand sending another layer of ice at Steropes, hoping to keep him locked down.

“This isn’t as easy as it looks!” Malcolm retorted swinging around Steropes’ neck to where he was face to face with the giant cyclops.

“I would say sorry, but you were the one trying to kill us-“

“Malcolm. Today please!” Cedric called out.

Malcolm nodded and drew back his sword and plunged it full force into Steropes’ eye.

The Cyclops let out a monstrous roar and quickly started to disintegrate into a cloud of golden dust.

Malcolm started to fall once Steropes’ head disappeared and the ice collapsed under its own weight.

As he fell Cedric quickly pointed his wand at the falling demigod, “ _Arresto Momentum_!”

Malcolm slowed enough to where Cedric could run over and catch him before he hit the ground.

Malcolm looked down at the ground then back up at Cedric.

Cedric tilted his head curiously at the son of Athena. Malcolm motioned for Cedric to lean in. Cedric leaned in closer. Malcolm brought his head closer to Cedric’s… then let out a loud cough and a wad of golden dust was blasted into Cedric’s face.

Cedric dropped Malcolm in surprise. “Ew. What the Hell?” Cedric asked wiping his face from the remains of Steropes.

Malcolm looked up at him, completely wet from being dropped into the water. “You bitch.” Malcolm muttered laughing while ringing out his dress shirt once he stood up.

Cedric laughed along with him and led the two out of pond and to the sandy beach. Cedric waved his wand, instantly drying the two.

“Thanks.” Malcolm said patting himself mesmerized by his sudden ‘dryness’.

“Anytime.” Cedric said walking to stand inches from Malcolm.

Malcolm extended onto the balls of his feet and planted a kiss on Cedric’s lips. Cedric leaned into it and kissed him back.

The two backed apart before laughing again. “So, are we just going to keep randomly making out and ignore that the fact that we keep making out with each other until we do it again-“

Malcolm held his finger up to Cedric’s lips to cut him off, “I want to be if you do.”

“In that case, Malcolm Pace, Son of Athena-“

“Will you stop being so dramatic, I wasn’t asking your hand in marriage-“

Cedric aggressively held his finger up, “Will you go out with me?” Cedric finally got out.

Malcolm smiled up at him, trying to suppress a laugh. “Yes, I will go out with you.” Malcolm said giving Cedric another kiss. Malcolm’s face quickly shifted, and he looked down at his watch.

“Shit! Class starts in ten minutes!” Malcolm yelled as he gathered his backpack from where he threw it earlier. Cedric also quickly gathered his belongings letting out curses as he struggled.

“What the Hell, we had like an hour?” Cedric asked running up to Malcolm.

Malcolm dug into his pocket searching for a golden Drachmae. “Yeah, and that was like… and hour ago.” Malcolm retorted.

“What are you doing? We need to go, Snape’s going to give us a week’s worth of detention as it is!” Cedric yelled at Malcolm as he tossed the gold coin into the ground

"Stêthi, Ô hárma diabolês!" He shouted.

A plum of black smoke appeared in front of the two demigods. It took the form of a smoky taxi and the side door of the magical car flung open.

“What-“

“Come on!” Malcolm yelled and slid into the cab followed by a very confused Cedric.

Cedric yelled in fright at the three Gray Sisters sitting up front, currently arguing over their eye.

“Give it to me, it’s my turn!” The sister on the right yelled to the one in the driver’s seat.

“Passage to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” Malcolm interrupted.

The three sisters turned to face Malcolm. “Someone’s in a rush.” The center sister said.

“Please, we’re going to be late.” Cedric said.

“Fine, fine. But we’re charging you double because we just have to go through the forest.” One of them complained.

“Yeah sure, whatever.” Malcolm muttered annoyed and threw a few golden coins at the sisters.

“So, rude.”

Malcolm rolled his eyes, but was slammed into the back of his seat when the cab blasted off into the forest.

“What is happening?” Cedric asked quickly looking through the windows overwhelmed by what was going on around him.

“The Chariot of Damnation, driven by the Gray Sisters. And here I was the one who didn’t believe Annabeth when she said that it took the form of a New York taxicab.” Malcolm explained.

“Of course, because that’s how the world works.” Cedric said sarcastically.

“Yep, glad to know you’re finally getting it.” Malcolm retorted patting Cedric on the shoulder. “Oh look, we’re here, with five minutes to spare.” Malcolm said as the cab came to a screeching halt in the miraculously empty courtyard. He handed the sister in the middle of the cab another few Drachmas.

Cedric opened the door and helped Malcolm out of the cab. Cedric barely had time to shut the door before the taxi zoomed out of the courtyard and literally through a wall and disappeared in a black cloud of smoke.

“Come on, we have to get down to the dungeons!” Cedric yelled as he beelined for the entrance to the castle.

Malcolm muttered curses as he tried to pull his robes on while running, ignoring the stares he was getting from some of the other students he passed, and even a ghost or two. They both sprinted down the staircase into the dungeons, almost dying in the process when Malcolm tripped on the disappearing step and ran into Cedric’s back.

They both sprinted through the dungeon towards Professor Snape who looked like he was about to shut the door on the two. The two boys slid into the classroom just as Snape waved his wand to slam the door shut.

He sneered at the boys as they took the remaining seats at the back of the classroom.

“Turn your books to page thirty-seven.” He ordered and turned to start writing on the blackboard.

Cedric and Malcolm turned to face each other and let out a sigh of relief. And quickly turned back to pay attention to their potions professor.

"Let's not do that again.” Malcolm whispered.

“You joking? That was exhilarating.” Cedric said in a muffled laugh.

Malcolm pulled out a quill to take notes, while muttering curses about having to use a quill.

Cedric laughed quietly at his displeasure and turned his attention back to Snape.

_‘This is defiantly going to be an interesting year.’_


	6. VI

**Chapter VI: That moment when you realize that the prophecy meant four champions, not four demigods… Whoops.**

**Lou Ellen Blackstone** stood next to Cedric and Malcolm near the Great Hall. She had just come from Dumbledore’s office, trying to get as much information about Durmstrang and Beauxbatons from the old wizard as possible.

None of the passing students paid them any attention as they continued to deliberate amongst themselves about the two other magical schools joining later tonight. School had already been in session for about a month, with little to no major incidents occurring, at least that were to the fault of the demigods.

Besides Malcolm and Cedric’s journey into the Forbidden Forest on their first day, nothing pertaining to the mythical world had caught their attention.

They almost had an incident when Nico threatened to summon a skeleton on Crabbe and Goyle after they had gotten into an altercation a couple of weeks ago, but Lou Ellen had managed to convince Draco to make sure they left the son of Hades alone. One of the perks of being the First Daughter of the MACUSA, her house liked to keep her in their good graces.

“Have you found anything interesting about the other schools coming?” Malcolm asked, suspiciously eyeing the passing students.

“Stop that, you’re going to draw _more_ attention to yourself if you keep looking around like you don’t want anyone to see you.” Lou Ellen hissed, gently slapping Malcolm’s arm. Typically they avoided any chance of being overheard by meeting up in their ‘secret’ spot behind a suit of armor near the Charms classroom, but standing against the wall near the Great Hall had to do for now.

“-ow, that’s a hate crime.” Malcolm whined rubbing his arm dramatically.

Lou Ellen glared daggers at the blonde while Cedric chuckled in the background. She soften her gaze after attempting to strike the wrath of the Titans into Malcolm.

“Didn’t you two spend all morning, and all of last night in the library researching?” Lou Ellen asked.

Malcolm and Cedric both turned to look at each other, with a slight blush.

“Yeah… we were in the library.” Cedric said.

“For the love of Aphrodite, next time the two of you need to do actual work, make sure Will or Nico is with you. Maybe then you two might actually get something done.” Lou Ellen scoffed.

“What are you-you’ve got some nerve-“

“Malcolm, calm down.” Cedric said gently placing a hand on his arm.

“I am calm.” Malcolm snapped before softening his tone. “Sorry.” Malcolm turned back to face Lou Ellen. “-but we don’t need babysitters. We were researching just fine.”

Lou Ellen tried to contain her laughter, “Right… And your definition of researching is?”

Malcolm bit his lip.

“Did Dumbledore give you anything useful?” Cedric asked changing the subject.

Lou Ellen shrugged her shoulders. “Nothing that I didn’t really already know from dad. But he did have some more in-depth information about Igor Karkaroff.”

Cedric narrowed his eyes, “He’s the ex-Death Eater, right?”

“Yeah, ‘ex’.” Lou Ellen muttered sarcastically.

“You seriously don’t think that the Headmaster of a school is _still_ a Death Eater, do you?” Cedric asked.

Lou Ellen shrugged her shoulders, “The guy seems kind of sketchy on paper. I just find it hard to come back from some of the horrendous things that he’s done.”

“People can change, can’t we just forgive and move on?” Malcolm asked. “We all forgave Luke, and he did some seriously messed up things.”

Lou Ellen snorted, “Some of us forgave Luke.”

Malcolm took a step back in surprise.

“Luke killed two of my sisters, who were twelve and fourteen. Just because he saw the light at the end, doesn’t mean that it makes up for the dozens of _our_ _family_ that he murdered, or were murdered because of him!” Lou Ellen hissed.

Malcolm didn’t respond, he just stood there in shock at her sudden aggression. Lou Ellen doubted that he could respond to her statement in kind. She knew a lot of campers felt the same way that she did, but they never wanted to bring it up because of Percy and Annabeth. They both made it look so easy to move on and forgive the son of Hermes; But Lou Ellen knew there were a lot of campers who couldn’t move on as easily. Especially some in the Ares cabin and even a few of Luke’s siblings. He betrayed his family, and because of that there’s dozens of _kids_ who died.

“Oh-kay, moving back onto topic…” Cedric nervously interjected. “Did Dumbledore tell you anything else?”

Lou Ellen and Malcolm kept their eyes locked.

“Not really, he said the Karkaroff thing was the most relevant to our quest, no reason to have any suspicions about anyone coming from Beauxbatons.” She said after finally looking up from Malcolm.

Cedric nodded, “Well, when I enter and if I get selected, I’ll make sure to use that as an opportunity to keep a closer eye on things.”

Lou Ellen quickly shook her head in shock. “What do you mean, ‘when you enter’?” She asked quickly, “You’re not seriously thinking about joining the tournament, are you?”

Cedric narrowed his eyes at her shock, “Why are you surprised? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“It’s dangerous, you’re literally testing the Fates as it is by staying in Europe. We all are. Why would-no, you’re not putting your name in!” Lou Ellen ordered.

“You’re not my dad, you can’t tell me what I can and cannot do.” Cedric fired back.

“This is my quest.” Lou Ellen stated harshly.

Cedric snorted, “And I’m not a part of your quest. I just so happen to go to the same school that’s the setting for your guys’ little adventure.”

“Guys.” Malcolm interrupted and slightly nudged his head forward.

Lou Ellen turned to see two Hufflepuff boys standing awkwardly a few feet away.

“What’s wrong?” Cedric asked the two blonds.

“Nothing, we were just wondering if you and Malcolm were coming out to watch the schools arrive? Most of the castle’s out there.” One of the boys said to Cedric.

“Yeah, we’ll be right out.” Cedric said and the boys walked off.

“Friends of yours?” Lou Ellen asked.

“What tipped you off?” Cedric sarcastically asked unamused. “That was Ernie and Zacharias.” He added.

“Zacharias?” Lou Ellen laughed, “And I thought my name was pretentious.”

Cedric rolled his eyes and stepped closer to Lou Ellen, “I’m entering, and you can’t stop me.” He hissed grabbing Malcolm’s hand and pushed past Lou Ellen to follow the two other boys towards the entrance hall.

Lou Ellen huffed, blowing a strand of hair out from her face.

“You look excited.” Draco’s sarcastic tone laughed as he walked over to the older Slytherin.

“I’m not in the mood Draco.” Lou Ellen muttered following the crowd of students heading outside.

The blonde quickly walked after her, “I was talking to you.”

“And I’m ignoring you.” Lou Ellen replied pushing past a group of First Years.

Draco looked flabbergasted, “Excuse you? I am a Malfoy! You can’t just ignore me!” He shouted after Lou Ellen.

“What part of ‘ignoring you’ did you not understand?”

“You know, for a half-blood… You act awfully a lot like a mudblood!” He yelled.

Lou Ellen stopped dead in her tracks. Draco nearly running into the back of her.

Lou Ellen inhaled deeply and quickly reached for her wand.

“Now that I got your atten- Ahh!”

Lou Ellen quickly fired off a spell blasting Draco down the hall into a huddled group of Third Year Ravenclaws.

The group screamed in surprise, while the remaining students in the hall quickly turned and started to ‘ooh’ and laugh teasingly at the disgruntled Malfoy.

Draco roughly pushed the girl who had landed on top of him off onto the ground.

“What the Hell?”

Lou Ellen rolled her eyes. “Draco, just…stop.”

Draco pulled out his wand “ _Stu-_ “

“ _Silencio_ ” Lou Ellen shouted before Draco could complete his spell, muting him. He started to flail dramatically.

The group of students in the hallway started to laugh at Draco’s displeasure.

“What is going on?” Professor McGonagall’s voice shouted through the hallway. The other students quickly fled the hallway, leaving the Professor alone with Lou Ellen and Draco.

Draco attempted to explain _his_ side of the story but was still muted by the spell.

McGonagall waved her wand lifting the charm from Draco.

“Professor, she attacked me!”

Lou Ellen rolled her eyes, “That’s a little dramatic, even for you Draco.” She knew that he was _technically_ right, she had blasted him across the room, but she felt that he deserved it.

“You shot me!”

Lou Ellen aggressively stepped forward making Draco jump back in fear.

“That is enough, both of you!” McGonagall shouted stepping in between the two. “I do not have time to deal with this, we have guests arriving as I speak. Mrs. Blackstone, there is a strict no dueling policy here at Hogwarts.” McGonagall declared.

“I wouldn’t have called that a duel.” Lou Ellen muttered underneath her breath.

“Fifty points from Slytherin. Now, either go outside or wait in the Great Hall. Preferably away from each other.” McGonagall ordered, either not hearing or ignoring Lou Ellen’s comment and swiftly walked down the hallway towards the castle doors.

Draco glared at Lou Ellen, “If you hadn’t cheated, I would have bested you. Easily.”

Lou Ellen tried not to choke on her spit, “Cheated? Draco, this wasn’t sometype of game, and even if it was-“ She asked walking closer to the younger blonde, “-How could I have cheated when you are not even in my league?”

Draco pointed his wand at Lou Ellen once again and she leveled her own wand to meet his.

“ _Expelliarmus_!” They both shouted and a jet of red light shot from their wands creating a small explosion between the two, knocking them both to the ground.

Lou Ellen groggily stood up and noticed Draco still lying on the ground. She looked over her shoulder down the hall, fully prepared to leave the younger teen on the floor.

Draco let out a moan, but still laid flat on the ground.

Lou Ellen leaned her head back and let out a loud sigh before marching over to Draco.

Draco opened his eyes when she stopped right next to him, and he looked up at her as she extended her hand to help him up.

He glanced at her hand and hesitantly reached for it. She helped him up as he patted his robes, knocking the nonexistent dust off the cloth.

He nodded at her.

“Truce?” She asked, genuinely not wanting to start an actual rivalry with the young Malfoy. The distraction of a feud with Draco wasn’t worth getting in the way of the quest.

“You attacked me, without reason! Why-“

“Oh my gods, I’m trying to move on-can’t you just accept my olive branch?” Lou Ellen huffed.

He quizzically looked at Lou Ellen, trying to figure out if she had an angle to her offer.

“Truce.” He said carefully.

Lou Ellen slightly nodded her head before heading the opposite direction. Leaving Draco standing in the middle of the large empty hallway.

*******

**William Solace** sat down next to Cedric, Zacharias, and Ernie, waiting for the festivities to begin in the Great Hall.

The hall was a buzz of joyful banter and laughter while they waited for Professor Dumbledore to begin what Will assumed was some sort of ‘opening ceremonies’.

Will saw the caretaking Squib, which he learned was a person from a magical family without magic, Filch, run up to Dumbledore and whisper something to him.

Dumbledore nodded his head and made his way to the podium at the head of the Great Hall.

Everyone in the hall quickly quieted down.

“Now welcoming from France, the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, and their Headmistress Madame Maxime!” Dumbledore shouted.

The doors to the Great Hall opened and several girls came running down the walkway between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables. They danced and performed sparkly charms earning them ‘oohs’ and ‘awws’ from the students of Hogwarts.

Eventually a girl performing cartwheels and flips made her way towards the front of the hall near the staff table. And a giant woman stormed after the girls. Will assumed that she was part giant as she stood twice as tall next to any of, what Will assumed were her students.

“Blimey, that’s a tall woman.” Ernie muttered.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Cedric added on.

The students and staff of Hogwarts all applauded enthusiastically, some, almost all boys, stood to give the ladies of Beauxbatons a standing ovation.

The abnormally tall woman, Madame Maxime ascended the raised dais where the staff table was located and raised her hand to Dumbledore. He grabbed it and planted a quick kiss on them and led her to sit with the rest of the staff.

“Thank you for that lovely introduction Madame Maxime.” Dumbledore said gesturing to the Headmistress and to the end of the Ravenclaw table where the Beauxbatons kids were sitting down. “And now, the delegation from the far north-Durmstrang Institute of Magic!”

The large doors to the Great Hall shot open and a group of boys wearing matching brown uniforms marched into the hall carrying staffs. As they walked down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables performed in sync a piece of choreography, spinning the staffs around themselves and slamming them into the ground.

After the main group of boys marched into the hall, a few men wearing gray and brown furs followed the performers. Will instantly recognized one of the men, Igor Karkaroff. Lou Ellen showed the demigods an image of the former Death Eater a while back. His signature black beard ever present as he marched forth with a couple of other staff members.

“Merlin, is that who I think it is?” Ernie asked nearly falling out of his seat.

Cedric nodded his head in agreement.

“Who?” Will asked.

“Krum.” Zacharias said in aww, following the large muscular teen’s movement.

“Is he famous or something?” Will asked, not sure of the commotion around ‘Krum’s arrival’.

“He’s only the best seeker in the Eastern Hemisphere, perhaps the world!” Ernie shouted, drawing the glances of several other students in earshot.

Will followed Cedric’s gaze, which was landed squarely on Krum. “I wonder how Malcolm would feel if he knew you were showering mister tall and dark over there with your ‘puppy dog’ eyes?” Will laughed.

Cedric quickly shook his head and glared at the son of Apollo before shrugging his shoulders.

“Malcolm knows that Viktor is my favorite Quidditch player. He said that he was my ‘hall-pass’-“ Will choked on his spit interrupting Cedric.

“He’s your what?”

“My…hall-pass? I don’t know what that is? I just went with it.” Cedric said honestly.

“Cedric, oh gods. I’m sure Malcolm is having a field day right now.” Will muttered, stretching his neck as far as he could trying to find the son of Athena, but to no luck. Sighing, Will quickly turned to garner Cedric’s attention, ignoring the rest of the show Durmstrang’s show.

“Cedric, your hall-pass is someone you’re ‘allowed’ to cheat on your boyfriend slash girlfriend with.” Will explained, much to Cedric’s confusion. “But, the idea is that-You don’t ever meet your hall-pass!” Will hissed aggressively.

“So…?”

“So, after this lovely feast we have, you need to track down your boyfriend and request a change in hall-pass. Preferably to someone you will never meet, like, I don’t know, Shawn Mendes, or a Jonas Brother, or all three. I don’t know, and I don’t care. But think of something before Malcolm kills poor Viktor in his sleep or something.” Will ordered. Cedric nodded along quickly, his face reding by the second.

Will and Cedric missed the rest of the presentation put on by Durmstrang because of their conversation over Krum.

“Alright, Hogwarts, everyone up!” Dumbledore commanded walking to the front of the hall in a brisk pace.

All the students stood up and Dumbledore waved his wand and a banner appeared above the hall with lyrics written across it.

The entire hall began to ‘sing’ along to what Will assumed was Hogwarts’ alma matar. Will tried to follow along but he was too distracted by Nico looking around the room, clearly not enjoying the singing portion of the dinner.

Once they had finished belting out the last of the lyrics, everyone took to their seats and just like at the start of the school year, a giant feast magically appeared on their plates.

“Ced, are you putting your name in?” Ernie asked the Sixth year.

Cedric nodded his head as he started to eat one of the rolls on his plate.

Will bit his lip, recalling the conversation he had with Nico not to long before.

His boyfriend had warned him about Lou Ellen’s dreams, and how they feared there was a connection between the Triwizard Tournament, and the resurrection of Voldemort.

Nico didn’t want Will to let Cedric in on Lou Ellen’s dreams, citing fear of interfering with destiny or something. Will didn’t buy it, he wanted to warn Cedric. Fates be damned.

“Yeah, I’m excited. And plus, I’m a shoe-in for the Auror Academy in New York, or anywhere else I want to go… If I win. And plus, it’ll get my dad off my back for a little while.” Cedric laughed.

 _‘Fuck it’_. Will thought to himself before turning back to Cedric. “Are you sure that you want to do this? It could be really dangerous.”

Cedric sighed as soon as Will started to talk.

“What is with you guys? First Lou Ellen doesn’t want me to put my name in, and the other day when I mentioned it to Nico at lunch he told me not to do it, and now you? I would like to have some support from my _friends_ every once and a while!” Cedric hissed before shoving his plate to the middle of the table and got up to leave.

Zacharias and Ernie quickly looked up at Cedric once they noticed that he was leaving.

“Where you go’n’?” Zacharias asked with his mouth still full.

Will shook his head, internally cursing himself for his brashness.

“Cedric! Wait up.” Will commanded quickly walking after the older boy.

Zacharias and Ernie called after him as well, but he kept on walking, ignoring the stares of the other students as he exited the Great Hall.

“Cedric!” Will yelled one last time. The wizard halted but kept his back to Will.

“You know, I’ve faced far worse than anything in the Wizarding World, including You-Know-Who.” Cedric murmured.

Will closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. “Cedric, please don’t put your name in the Goblet. And if you’re not going to do it for me, or Lou Ellen… Then do it for Malcolm. Please, just trust us.” Will begged.

Cedric quickly turned around, walking up to Will to the point that Cedric was staring down on the younger teen. “I deserve to know, why the Hell are you guys so scared for me to do this. Is it because you guys think… I don’t, that I’m weak… or something?” Cedric pleaded, aggressively pointing his finger at Will.

“Because you die.” Lou Ellen’s voice called out from behind Will.

Will jumped at the sound of her voice and nearly bumped into Cedric.

“ _Malaka!_ You scared me.” Will cursed.

“What do you mean, ‘I die’?” Cedric asked, completely ignoring Will’s miniature panic attack.

Lou Ellen bit her lip trying to find a way to explain everything. “I’m not a hundred percent sure, I wanted to be sure before I bothered you about it. But I’ve been having dreams, like demigod-prophetic dreams. And I saw that you…die at the hands of Voldemort while participating in the Tournament.”

If Cedric was surprised, he didn’t show it. “You of all people know that the future isn’t always what it seems. It isn’t set in stone.”

“Why risk it? Cedric you don’t need to prove yourself, you don’t have to risk your life for this.” Lou Ellen pleaded.

“Why would… You-Know-Who want to kill me. Don’t get me wrong, I hate the monster just as much as anyone else, but-“

Lou Ellen looked around, making sure they were the only ones in the long hallway. “Because you weren’t… aren’t? His target. I’m fairly certain Harry Potter is his endgame, you just got-get?- In the way.” She whispered.

Cedric looked taken aback. “If me being in the Tournament is the reason why I’m killed, then why’s Harry there? There can only be one champion per-school, and he’s not of age.” Cedric asked.

Lou Ellen shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know, I-“

“So, in theory, you don’t actually know that being in the Tournament is what gets me killed!”

“What?” Malcolm’s voice shouted from behind the three other demigods.

“ _Shit._ ” Cedric and Lou Ellen whispered.

“What are you guys talking about?” Malcolm demanded pushing past Will staring Cedric down.

Lou Ellen huffed, “Nothing, just-“

“No, don’t blow me off, what is going on?”

“Lou Ellen is under the impression that if I partake in the Triwizard Tournament, then I will die at the hands of You-Know-Who.” Cedric said matter-of-factly.

Malcolm turned to face Lou Ellen, “I thought you said that the Potter kid was his target?” Malcolm asked.

Lou Ellen shrugged her shoulders, “He is, okay look; The situation is a lot more complicated than that-“

“Then uncomplicate it.” Malcolm ordered, “Does my boyfriend get murdered by Voldemort or not?”

Cedric cringed at the mention of the dark wizard. Malcolm walked over to stand next to Cedric and held onto his arm protectively.

Lou Ellen ran both her hands through her hair, walking a few feet away from the group before sighing and turned back to face Malcolm and Cedric.

“I’ve been having… dreams, not as often but, each time, I see Harry, Cedric, Voldemort, and a few of his Death Eaters. Sometimes different scenarios play out. Sometimes one of the Death Eaters, or Voldemort kills Cedric instantly, or sometimes you manage to subdue a few of them; But the end result is always the same. You die, and Voldemort returns.” Lou Ellen said half-heartedly.

“And you’re now just telling us this, why?” Malcolm asked.

Cedric raised his hand to cut Lou Ellen off before she could speak. “If I’m not selected, that means someone else will take that spot, and be potentially a target for-“ Cedric gulped, “-Voldemort. No one else attending this school has the same combat experience that I do. Not even the Seventh Years. I can’t let someone else take my spot knowing that I could be potentially sending them to their death.”

Malcolm shook his head, “Dammit, why are so freaking heroic?” He asked shaking his head.

Lou Ellen let out another deep breath, “Fine, if you’re putting in your name, so am I. And if one of us gets picked, we don’t go it alone. We do this as a team.” She said sternly.

“Agreed.” Will added.

“I don’t agree!” Malcolm yelled.

“Too bad.” Lou Ellen responded before turning back to Cedric.

“We aren’t supposed to have outside help. That’s kind of the point of the tournament.” Cedric said shrugging his shoulders.

Lou Ellen rolled her eyes. “Cedric.” She stated tilting her head slightly. “I don’t give a fuck about the rules. This is a little bit more important than obtaining some bragging rights! This is the fate of the world we’re dealing with!” She shouted, her voice echoing off the stone walls in the empty hallway.

The three boys were taken aback by her shouting, “Okay, okay.” Cedric defensively said holding his hands up.

“Okay, cool.” Lou Ellen said, the tone of her voice quickly shifting.

“I still don’t think this is-“ But Malcolm was cut off when they heard a _‘meow’_ behind them. A house cat sat in the middle of the hallway, staring the four down.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here Ms. Norris? Students roaming the hallways when they should be in the Great Hall?” The raspy voice of Argus Filch called out. The short squib stumbled down the hallway with an evil smirk plastered on his face.

“Run?” Malcolm whispered.

Lou Ellen placed her hand on Malcolm’s shoulder to calm him down and preceded to walk up to the squib.

Filch gave her a curious look as she walked up to him. Lou Ellen snapped her fingers in his face.

“You never saw four students in the hallway when they weren’t supposed to be, and you are going to take a nice long nap in your office with your cat.” Lou Ellen ordered, using the Mist to manipulate the old man.

Filch nodded his head in understanding. He scooped up Ms. Norris in his arms and walked back the way he came, with his cat hissing at Lou Ellen.

“Did you just Jedi mind trick a teacher?” Malcolm asked.

“Is that one of your nerdy references.” Lou Ellen murmured, rolling her eyes.

“Come on, even Cedric knows what I’m talking about.” Malcolm huffed.

“Are you talking about the muggle cinema with that Dark Vader guy?” Cedric asked, almost proud of himself. Malcolm face palmed.

“Close enough big guy.” Will laughed as the four made their way back the Great Hall.

Will overheard Malcolm tell Cedric that they would talk later before the older blonde walked past Will towards the Ravenclaw table.

Will followed Cedric back to their seats to an eager Zacharias and Ernie.

“What was all that about?” Zacharias asked Cedric.

Cedric shook his head, “Don’t worry about it. It was nothing.” Cedric dismissed as he dug into his food.

The two other Fourth Years did not look convinced but dropped their line of questioning.

Will didn’t bother Cedric for the rest of the feast and ate the rest of his meal in silence, waiting for Professor Dumbledore to dismiss the Great Hall for the night.

***

 **Malcolm Pace** quickly walked through the halls with Nico by his side. Malcolm could barely contain his frustration, he couldn’t even acknowledge that it was Halloween. He was too distracted by the fact that Cedric had finally decided to enter the Triwizard Tournament, without talking to him about beforehand.

“He actually placed his name into the fire?” Nico asked under his breath.

“Yeah, first thing he did this morning before they closed it off to new entries.” Malcolm huffed.

“I guess that means you two are still fighting over this?” Nico asked.

Malcolm huffed. “Over the past week, the only real conversation we’ve had was that he _told_ me that he had put his name in. And that was like an hour ago!” Malcolm yelled, drawing a few glances their way. “He’s been acting ridiculous ever since Lou Ellen put her name in.”

“Okay, calm down. The odds of Cedric being picked are-“

“Nico, come on. Of all the people in the world to tell me not worry-“

Nico held up his hand to cut Malcolm off. “Malcolm, just-calm down. Go in there and try to just let things play out. It’s out of your hands right now.”

Malcolm huffed and shook his head, “You know I don’t like it when I’m not the one in control.”

Nico rolled his eyes, “Typical child of Athena.” He muttered under his breath.

“What was that?” Malcolm asked raising his eyebrows.

Nico ignored him and lead the two inside the darkened Great Hall. The only source of light coming from the brilliant blue flame in the center of the room and a few lit braziers in the back near the entrance way.

The hall was quickly filling up, with both Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students sitting in their own little packs at the front, closest to the flame.

Professor Dumbledore paced in front of the goblet, eagerly awaiting the rest of the Hogwarts students to take their seats.

Nico immediately walked over to where Will was sitting with Lou Ellen at the furthest table with a bunch of Fourth Years, mainly Gryffindors. Malcolm spotted Harry Potter and his friends among the group.

Malcolm looked around the room for Cedric and saw him sitting with Ernie and Zacharias… as per usual. He quickly walked over to Cedric, hoping to be able to at least get a word in with the older demigod.

Ernie spotted Malcolm first and immediately scooted over that way he could sit down next to Cedric.

Cedric looked up at Malcolm when he sat down.

“Hey.” Malcolm quietly said, trying to judge whether or not Cedric was still actively ignoring him.

Cedric nodded his head, “Hey.”

Malcolm nervously tapped his fingers on their bench, “Look I’m-“

“Me too.” Cedric interrupted.

“I should have told you that I was going to put my name in, it wasn’t… cool of me to do that with out talking to you about it.”

“And I should have been more of a boyfriend about it, and less of an overprotective parent. I-I just want you to know that, if you are chosen, I will be there for you. For better or for worse.” Malcolm said. Honestly, he felt the opposite in some ways, if it were up to him, Cedric would be back at camp, safe in the Aphrodite Cabin, as far away from the probable rise of Voldemort. But because he cannot be an overbearing boyfriend, he and Cedric will have to settle for him to sit on the sidelines, with his bow ready to shoot anyone who comes close to Cedric.

“What is that smirk? I know you’re planning something.” Cedric asked dragging Malcolm out of his thoughts.

“What smirk?” Malcolm asked, attempting to get Cedric to drop the question.

“Malcolm… Don’t play dumb, it’s not a good colour on you.” Cedric said seriously placing his hand on Malcolm’s arm.

“Honest to-“

“Malcolm.”

Malcolm rolled his eyes, “I was just plotting out how I was going to save your ass every time someone, or thing came at you during the Tournament… assuming you’re chosen.”

Cedric shook his head. “You’re impossible.”

Malcolm shrugged his shoulders.

Malcolm could hear the ringing of the bell in the background above the noise in the hall. Dumbledore quickly got the students to sit down as he took center stage in front of the flaming goblet.

“Now the moment you all have been waiting for… the Champion Selection!” Dumbledore announced as he dimmed the flaming braziers behind the tables.

Dumbledore slowly approached the goblet, holding his hand out to summon the first name.

The fire turned from the bright cyan blue to a light red as a piece of parchment was launched from the fire. Dumbledore quickly snatched it out of the air and unfolded the slip of parchment.

“The Durmstrang Champion is-“ Dumbledore looked up to where the Durmstrang boys were seated, “-Viktor Krum!”

The hall erupted into applause, while everyone sitting around Viktor cheered loudly for their housemate.

Viktor approached Dumbledore and shook his hand before being led away from the hall.

After Viktor had left the hall, the goblet reignited into a brilliant red flame and another piece of parchment flew from the large cup and into Dumbledore’s awaiting hand.

“The Champion from Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!”

The hall clapped politely for the girl as she eagerly approached Dumbledore. He shook her hand just like he had done with Viktor and had her shown from the hall, undoubtedly heading to the same place where Viktor had gone.

Dumbledore barely had time to turn around before the next slip of parchment flew into his hands. The entire hall collectively held their breath, knowing that this was going to be the champion representing Hogwarts.

“The Hogwarts Champion, Cedric Diggory!”

The entire hall burst into cheers, but Malcolm could not register it. He did not want to accept it, but he turned over to Cedric when he felt his boyfriend give his hand a squeeze before eagerly standing up and walking up to Dumbledore.

The entire Hufflepuff house stood up to cheer on their housemate. After allowing the shock to go through his system Malcolm also stood to give his boyfriend the encouragement that he deserved.

Malcolm wanted to run after Cedric as he quickly made his way from the hall clapping some of the other kids on the back or giving them hugs as he passed.

Just before he left the hall, he turned back and looked directly at Malcolm and gave him a nod before leaving.

Malcolm sat back down and sighed.

Ernie noticed Malcolm’s stupor and sat back down next to him.

“He’s going to be fine you know. Even for a Sixth Year, he could give any Seventh Year a run for their money in a dueling match.” Ernie said trying to cheer Malcolm.

Malcolm looked over to Ernie before giving him a nod, “I know, it’s still-“

“Hard? Trust me, I get it. He’s like a big brother to me, I don’t want to see him get hurt any more than you probably do. But I’m still going to be there for him, because that’s what we do. We look out for one another.” Ernie said patting Malcolm on the back.

Ernie turned back to Dumbledore once Malcolm did not respond.

“Hey, Ernie.” Malcolm said gaining the younger Hufflepuff’s attention. “Thanks.”

Ernie nodded his head.

“…Only one can down into history! Only one will hoist this chalice of champions, this vessel of victory-The Triwizard Cup!” Dumbledore shouted and pointed to the glowing crystal trophy sitting on a pedestal next to Professors Snape and McGonagall.

Malcolm looked over to the fire and noticed how it started to become unstable and red flames started to erupt violently from the large goblet.

A column of fire shot from the cup and a piece of parchment landed in Dumbledore’s hand.

“ _Harry Potter_.” Dumbldedore muttered, barley loud enough for anyone in the quiet hall to hear him.

“Harry Potter.” Dumbledore said louder. Looking eagerly for the Fourth Year.

Malcolm looked over to where Harry was sitting by Nico, Will, and Lou Ellen. The boy was trying to sink into his seat, away from prying eyes.

“Harry Potter!” Dumbledore angerly shouted. Malcolm watched as Hermione Granger pushed Harry out of his seat.

Harry slowly made his way to Dumbledore, the look of confusion, shock, and some fear littered his movements as he walked from the hall.

Other Hogwarts students started to berate him with insults as he did his ‘walk of shame’ from the hall.

As soon as Harry exited the hall the students got to their feet and started to yell and scream in outrage. The Gryffindors looked like they were trying to stand up for their housemate, but they were drowned out by the other three houses, along with the students form Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.

Malcolm made his way over to where Nico, Lou Ellen, and Will were sitting. Lou Ellen looked angry or frustrated, it was honestly hard to tell the difference with her.

“I’m going to go figure out what the Hades is going on. You guys try to sneak away and meet me at our usual meeting spot over by the Charms classroom. I’ll see if I can drag Cedric with me. Something’s not right!” Lou Ellen shouted over the yelling teens.

“No really, what gave you that impression?” Will sarcastically asked motioning to the chaos around them.

Lou Ellen quickly turned around and violently pointed her finger at him. “Don’t sass me right now sunshine. I am not in the mood.” She accused before walking down the aisle towards the door Dumbledore and majority of the staff had exited seconds earlier.

Malcolm looked sympathetically to Professors Sprout, Flitwick, and Hagrid as they attempted to calm the chaos.

“Come on, lets get out of here while everyone’s distracted.” Nico ordered walking towards the main entrance to the hall. Will quickly followed after his boyfriend, and Malcolm gave one last glance to the door where Lou Ellen had just walked through to track Dumbledore and Cedric down.

***

 **Cedric Diggory** stood next to Fleur as the three newly crowned champions stared at each other, not sure what to say.

They all turned their heads when they heard a set of footsteps walk down the staircase.

Cedric’s eyes widened slightly at the sight of Harry Potter nervously making his way to the group.

“Potter, what’s going on?” Cedric asked.

“Do they want us to come back?” Fleur asked stepping in front of Cedric.

“I-I-“ Harry stammered, and that’s when Cedric noticed the slip of parchment in Harry’s hand.

“Harry-“ Cedric started but was interrupted when the rushed footsteps of Dumbledore practically sprinted down the steps.

“Harry!” He shouted and grabbed onto the boy and pushed him against the wall.

Cedric felt like he should intervene, but Dumbledore looked angry enough to smite him if he moved a step.

“Did you put your name in the Goblet?” He asked calmly and let go of the boy.

“Na-no.”

“Did you ask an older student to put your name in?” Dumbledore asked again.

“No, professor, I have no idea-“

“Preposterous!” Karkaroff yelled.

“He is obviously lying!” Madame Maxime loudly declared, bumping her head on the low hanging chandelier, but kept advancing as if nothing had happened.

Harry looked legitimately scared and confused. Cedric assumed that Harry’s name had been released from the Goblet of Fire, and that’s why all the professor looked like they wanted to strangle one another. And Cedric doubted that Harry had the magical abilities to trick Professor Dumbledore’s aging spells he had casted around the Goblet of Fire.

Lou Ellen had even said that she couldn’t break through it when she attempted to test the magic’s strength a few weeks back.

The professor’s kept arguing before Dumbledore cut them off.

Barty Crouch had also joined the group, declaring that Harry had to participate, even though he didn’t want too.

“We can figure this out without having the children around. You four, off to bed, we’ll talk tomorrow about trying to figure this out.” Dumbledore ordered gesturing for the students to leave the room.

Fleur and Viktor headed off into opposite directions through the doors leading to the main hallway while Harry quickly walked past Dumbledore and up the stairs back to the Great Hall. Cedric quickly followed after the Fourth Year.

“I swear I didn’t put my name in.” Harry murmured as they walked up the stairs.

“Harry, I believe you.” Cedric reassured the Fourth Year, but Harry didn’t looked convinced.

“I-“

The footsteps of Lou Ellen interrupted Harry as she rushed down the steps to meet the two. “What the Hades is going on!” She whispered loudly.

“I was hoping you could tell me.” Cedric responded as Harry quickly walked past the two, but not before giving Lou Ellen a strange look.

“What’s his problem?” Lou Ellen asked.

Cedric shook his head, and gave Lou Ellen the ‘are you serious?’ gesture.

“Oh, yeah, I guess I would be a little frazzled after getting my name randomly pulled out of the Goblet of Fire.” Lou Ellen muttered as the two made their way to the now empty Great Hall. “I guess Potter was in a rush.” Lou Ellen observed as they made their way out of the Great Hall.

“Where are we going?” Cedric asked as he followed the daughter of Hecate.

“To our usual spot…” She said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Their usual spot was behind a suit of armor near the Charms classroom. It was at the end of a hall, with enough space to hide the four of them from prying eyes, and in a secluded part of the castle no one ever ventured too when classes were not in session.

They walked in silence, making sure to check the corners at each junction in the hallway, ensuring that they wouldn’t get caught by a ghost or by faculty.

They reached the suit of armor and Cedric waited for Lou Ellen to slip behind the pedestal which held the silver knight armor. Cedric checked his surroundings before ducking underneath the armored arm of the knight and knelt, nearly bumping into Lou Ellen because of how close the four had to sit next to each other.

“Well?” Will asked eagerly.

Cedric looked over to Malcolm who gave him an encouraging nod. “Well, looks like this is where the fun begins.”


	7. Chapter VII: The First Task

**Lou Ellen Blackstone** walked down the hallway towards the staircase which led to the dungeons underneath Hogwarts. She never understood who thought it was a good idea to put a dormitory in a dungeon, much less one that ran underneath the giant lake. The amount of mold that builds up in the Slytherin dormitory is unreal. At least with Hudson House, they had charms and enchantments that prevented such mundane things from forming.

Lou Ellen quickly walked down the staircase, making sure to step over the vanishing step. She was about to round the corner towards her dormitory when she heard loud voices yelling at one another.

She recognized the voices as Pansy Porkinson and Draco. Lou Ellen did not understand what Draco saw in the annoying girl. She was self-centered, racist, and just flat out mean. In other words, your stereotypical, too rich for their own good white-girl with probable daddy issues.

Lou Ellen leaned up against the wall, waiting for the two to finish that way she wouldn’t have to run into either one of them.

“-You’re unbelievable, seriously, you’re pathetic!” Lou Ellen heard Pansy yell. And a second later a loud _‘SLAP’_ rang through the halls.

Lou Ellen brought out her wand and quickly rounded the corner, “All right Draco, she might be an annoying-“ Lou Ellen stopped her self-rant when she saw Draco with his head down, his hand on his cheek, and Pansy holding her hand up.

 _‘Why am I not surprised?’_ Lou Ellen thought to herself as Pansy quickly stormed into the Slytherin common room, and Draco tried to storm past Lou Ellen. Lou Ellen grabbed onto his arm as he tried to walk past her.

“Let go of me!” He yelled.

Lou Ellen looked down at Draco, whose face was still turned away from Lou Ellen. “Draco, are you okay?” She asked genuinely.

She knew that he and Pansy had an… interesting relationship, and she knew they argued a lot, but she never suspected there to be any physical abuse. Emotional sure, Draco’s a Malfoy, there’s already a family history of it, and she was sure as Hades that Pansy’s home life was probably similarly complicated.

“Let go of me!” He yelled again, this time looking up at Lou Ellen, and that’s when she saw his split lip with some blood running down his chin. He had a tear forming in his eye.

Lou Ellen loosened her grip on the boy in almost sheer shock and he ran into the nearby bathroom.

She debated on going in after him, but she turned to march into the Slytherin common room.

Lou Ellen didn’t have to look to hard to find Pansy, who was sitting on one of the green couches next to the giant glass window that looked out into the lake.

A couple of other Slytherin girls sat by Pansy as they looked to be gossiping over gods know what this time.

Pansy looked up at Lou Ellen when she heard her footsteps and rolled her eyes at the older witch.

“Look what the dog dragged in.” Pansy laughed.

Lou Ellen ignored her sad attempt at an insult. “I should drag you down to the deepest pits of Tartarus for what you did to Draco!” Lou Ellen declared, gripping her wand tightly.

Pansy looked to her friends and squinted her eyes at Lou Ellen.

“What’s a Tartarus?” She asked, looking up as if she were trying to contemplate if she had ever heard of the word.

Lou Ellen snorted slightly, “Bitch, you about to find out.” Lou Ellen said as she pointed her wand at the younger witch.

Pansy looked unfazed by Lou Ellen’s threat. “Didn’t you just get into trouble with the ‘Old Hag’ not too long ago because you decided to attack Draco, my boyfriend?” Pansy asked, a deadly smirk stretching across her face.

Lou Ellen narrowed her eyes, trying to decide if Pansy was worth the risk of expulsion.

“Or better yet, how would it look on tomorrow’s headlines?” Pansy asked using her hands for dramatic effect, “I can already see it, First Daughter attacks younger _innocent_ girl over a boy.” She laughed. “Merlin, think about what it would do to your father’s reelection efforts.”

Lou Ellen didn’t waver as she slowly walked towards Pansy. Pansy sat up in her chair, almost daring Lou Ellen to step closer.

Lou Ellen turned to Pansy’s gang of girls, each of them holding their wands.

“Leave.” Lou Ellen commanded.

The younger girls looked to Pansy for direction, “It’s alright girls, I can take this _blood traitor_ myself.” Pansy declared, standing up and pulling out her wand.

“You’re going to regret crossing me.” Pansy warned.

“You know, Draco already has one asshole for a father, he doesn’t need two.” Lou Ellen snapped.

“Did you just call me a man?” Pansy asked, looking offended at the comparison.

Lou Ellen snorted in surprise, “I love how, out of that entire sentence, that’s the one thing you latched onto.” Lou Ellen said with enough snark to rival Percy.

“You bitch!” Pansy shouted and extended her arm to fire off a spell.

Lou Ellen deflected it, rebounding it to where it landed against the stone wall, leaving a singe in its place.

Lou Ellen feigned a yawn. “Is that the best you got, Porky?” Lou Ellen asked, trying to get under the girl’s skin.

“ _Bombarda_!” Pansy shouted.

Lou Ellen once again deflected the spell, this time sending it back towards Pansy. The younger Slytherin ducked just in time. The red bolt blasted against the glass window that separated the common room from the Black Lake.

Pansy stood back up and laughed at Lou Ellen. “Missed.” She declared.

Lou Ellen smirked at the girl and raised her wand. “ _Protego_.” She muttered.

Pansy looked at Lou Ellen curiously then turned her head when the sounds of cracking glass filled the common room.

Right as Pansy turned towards the window, a giant geyser of water erupted from the spot where Lou Ellen had redirected her blasting spell.

The force of the water knocked Pansy back several feet to the ground and started to flood the common room.

The water bounced harmlessly off Lou Ellen as she kept the water from entering the rest of the common room and the dormitories behind her.

Every time Pansy attempted to stand up, she would slip and fall right back down. Lou Ellen tried not to break her concentration, but still tried to enjoy Pansy’s struggles.

After another few minutes of watching Pansy suffer, Lou Ellen began to beat the water back towards the lake, to the point where she could repair the broken window.

With a wave of her wand, she sent the water back to its original source, but making sure to leave Pansy a soaking mess and the rest of the common room dry as a bone.

Lou Ellen knelt next to a red-faced Pansy. “Next time you think about abusing someone, just know, I will not hesitate to actually fight back.” Lou Ellen threatened quietly. “Now, go apologize to your boyfriend. And if you even think about trying to get me kicked out because _you_ tried to blast me. Well just think of all the free time I will have to make your life a living Hell.” Lou Ellen muttered in the now almost whimpering girl’s ear. “Glad we had this chat.” Lou Ellen said, her tone far more gleeful as she stood back up and walked to her dormitory, passing by Pansy’s entourage who all had their mouths gaping.

**\\_()_/**

**Cedric Diggory** walked along the corridors of Hogwarts, pushing past some of the other students as he, Malcolm, and a few of his Hufflepuff housemates made their way to charms.

“How’s everything in Ravenclaw?” Cedric asked Malcolm.

Malcolm shrugged his shoulders. “Fine, I kind of wish you or one of the others was with me in there, I can only play off the whole ‘I don’t know anything because I’m an American’ for so long.” He muttered under his breath, making sure the other students around them couldn’t hear.

Cedric turned his head to give Malcolm a sympathetic look, “I’m sorry babe. But think of it this way, you could always haven been thrown into Slytherin.”

Malcolm raised an eyebrow at Cedric, “Did you just call me ‘babe’?” He asked, suppressing a smirk.

Cedric blushed, “Sorry, it just kind of slipped.”

“No, no its fine, it’s just, we’ve never really used-“

Malcolm was cut off when Cedric’s bag completely fell apart and all his supplies fell onto the ground.

“Gods dammit.” Cedric cursed. Malcolm and the other Hufflepuff kids around Cedric went to help him but he waved everyone off. “Go on, I don’t want make any of you late.” Cedric said, annoyed as he used his wand to clean up the spilled ink from the now broken glass ink jars.

Malcolm looked hesitant but nodded his head, “I’ll go save our seats.”

Cedric gathered his belongings and quickly looked at his bag, trying to figure out how the bag broke.

“What the Hell?” Cedric muttered to himself when he saw how the bag was split apart, _perfectly_ at the seams.

“Cedric! Let me help you with that.” Cedric heard the voice of Harry Potter call out from the other side of the hallway.

Cedric was going to wave the boy off, but he noticed the wand in Harry’s hand. ‘ _That explains a lot._ ’ Cedric thought to himself.

Cedric let Harry pick up his books as he put his bag back together.

“Thanks.” Cedric said, ‘ _for cleaning up your mess_ ’. “And about the buttons, I asked the guys not to wear them.” Cedric quickly said.

The buttons were a sad attempt by some of Cedric’s ‘supporters’ to try and drag down Harry for trying to ‘steal’ the spotlight. Cedric found the buttons to be obnoxious and just mean.

“Oh, right, thanks but… uh, Dragons.” Harry muttered, looking around the hallway to make sure no one was around.

“Come again?” Cedric asked confused.

“The first task, its dragons. They have one for each of us.” Harry said.

Cedric looked at Harry, trying to figure out his angle. “How would you know that?”

“Does it matter? But I saw it myself.” Harry said defensively.

Cedric nodded his head, “Hey, Potter.” Cedric said to Harry as he turned to walk away. “Thanks, and I’ll make sure to return the favor.”

Harry shook his head, “Don’t worry about it.” And he walked back the way he came, leaving Cedric to quickly throw his books back into his bag and race into Charms, which he was already a few minutes late.

Cedric walked into the long classroom and was met by a staring Professor Flitwick. “I assume you used the _Repario_ charm Mr. Diggory?” Flitwick asked as he walked in.

“Excuse me Professor?” Cedric asked confused.

“Your, bag, Mr. Pace explained to me before class that you had some trouble with it.” Flitwick chuckled.

“Oh, right. Sorry. Yes, Professor. The _repario_ charm worked brilliantly.” Cedric said as he took his seat next to Malcolm.

Malcolm looked over at him with a puzzled look on his face. Clearly trying to figure something out.

“What?” Cedric whispered as he took his textbook out of his bag.

“What really happened? I know bags don’t just _magically_ fall apart for no reason, even in the magical world.” Malcolm asked.

Cedric wondered if he should tell Malcolm about the conversation he had with Harry, not wanting to worry him with something that was out of both of their control.

“Cedric…” Malcolm said, noticing the perplexed look on Cedric’s face.

Cedric sighed, and looked over at Flitwick as he began lecturing the class on their next set of charms.

“Harry wanted to talk to me, about the Tournament.” Cedric said, hoping that would be enough for Malcolm.

“Not surprising, honestly, I’m surprised he hasn’t come to you sooner, it’s been almost a week. But what about…?” Malcolm asked, eyeing Flitwick.

Cedric shrugged his shoulders, “He said something about dragons. He claims that he saw them himself, but I don’t know how he knows.”

“Dragons?” Malcolm asked in disbelief.

Cedric nodded his head.

“Dragons? Like, gigantic fire-breathing lizards?” Malcolm asked again.

“Well, I can’t say whether they are gigantic or not, but yeah. Essentially.” Cedric said, shrugging his shoulders.

Malcolm stared at him; mouth slightly ajar.

“Mr. Diggory, I understand you are Hogwarts’s new celebrity, but could you and Mr. Pace please pay attention.” Professor Flitwick called out.

Malcom and Cedric’s faces instantly turned red as the entire class looked over at them.

“Sorry Professor.” They both said, shrinking into their seats slightly, waiting for the rest of the class to turn their attention back to Flitwick.

**\\_()_/**

**Cedric** stood outside of the large tent where the other champions were waiting for the first task to begin. Malcolm and Will stood next to him, not sure what to say about the upcoming competition.

Malcolm opened his mouth several times, not able to find the words.

Will looked between the two and sighed, “Come on Malcolm, let’s go find Nico and Lou Ellen in the stands.”

Malcolm grabbed onto Cedric’s hand and turned him that way they were facing one another.

Malcolm quickly planted a kiss on Cedric’s lips, “For good luck.” He whispered.

Cedric flashed him his signature smile, “Don’t worry, I’ve faced far worse than some dragons.” Cedric said trying to reassure both Malcolm and himself.

“Yeah, but usually you would have me watching your ass.” Malcolm laughed.

“I’m sure you were.” Cedric smirked.

Malcolm’s face went deep red as he smacked Cedric’s arm, “You know what I mean, _Herakles_ you’re a jackass.”

“But I’m your-“

“Oh my gods, come on Malcolm, let’s go find Nico and Lou Ellen.” Will interrupted dragging Malcolm by the arm.

“Good luck!” Malcolm shouted as they rounded the corner and left Cedric’s eyesight.

Cedric sighed as he stared at the tent before him. He slowly stepped forward, each step feeling like a weight was pulling him down as he walked closer to the opening in the tent.

Cedric pulled open the cloth and walked inside the disproportionately large interior of the tent. The other champions were already inside. Fleur and Viktor stood by each other, whispering cordially with one another, while Harry stood alone near one of the beds, nervously flipping through the pages of a book.

 _“Spss. Harry!_ ” Cedric heard a whisper from outside the tent.

Cedric saw a female silhouette standing up against the cloth wall.

Seconds later, she lifted the cloth and walked underneath the tent and nearly ran into Cedric.

“Oh, you’re not who I was looking for, sorry Cedric.” Hermione Granger blushed as she walked past Cedric and quickly ran into Harry’s arms.

“That wasn’t strange.” Cedric whispered to himself.

A bright flash caught everyone’s attention.

Cedric turned towards the source and saw the Daily Prophet ‘reporter’ Rita Skeeter and her photographer taking a shot at Hermione and Harry as they quickly separated.

“Ah, young love.” Rita swooned as she approached the Fourth Years. “Nothing sells papers like a scandal in the making!” She cheered as she clasped her hands together.

Viktor and Fleur stepped in front of Harry.

“This area is for champions only.” He sternly informed the ‘journalist’.

She looked like she wanted to protest, but Viktor crossed his arms, looking down on the smaller woman.

“Well, all right then.” She said, a faux smile forming on her face as she stormed out of the tent.

Everyone turned to Harry and Hermione who nodded at Viktor.

“Thanks.” Harry muttered.

Viktor gave him a courteous nod, but Cedric noticed his eyes linger on Hermione for a moment before turning his attention back to Fleur.

Moments later a crowd of people stormed into the tent, led by Professor Dumbledore. Behind him, Crouch, Bagman, Karkaroff, and Maxime all huddled together.

The champions, and Hermione slowly walked over to where the adults were patiently waiting.

Dumbledore did a head count to himself, “Alright… Diggory, Potter, Granger… Ms. Granger? What are you doing in here?”

“I was… just leaving.” Hermione muttered, flustered in embarrassment.

“Quite right.” Dumbledore muttered as the girl fled from the tent. Dumbledore waited until Hermione left the tent before continuing on, “Mr. Crouch, if you would…”

Crouch stepped in front of Dumbledore, holding a sack with faint whines emitting from it.

“Inside are miniature dragons, each champion will reach in, and grab one, and which ever dragon you select, you will have to face the mature version in the arena.” Crouch explained mysteriously.

 _‘I guess Potter was right about the dragons._ ’ Cedric thought to himself as Fleur was the first to pick her dragon. Fleur looked genuinely terrified as she put her hand into the brown sack. Cedric could not see what dragon she picked, but the terror on her face quickly shifted to wonder and curiosity as she played around with the miniature fire-breathing lizard.

Viktor chose his dragon next and quickly stepped aside for Cedric to pick his.

Cedric closed his eyes as he slowly reached his gloved hand into the brown sack. Cedric felt something jump into his hand, and he squeezed instinctively before bringing the lizard out. Cedric slowly opened his hand to reveal the small Swedish Short Snout, spitting bursts of bright yellow fire.

Harry was the last to pick his dragon, a Hungarian Horn Tail. Cedric saw Harry flinch at the sight of the miniature fire breathing lizard.

“Mr. Diggory, you’re up first!” Bagman cheered gleefully as he led Cedric towards the flap of the tent which led to the enclosed arena.

Cedric could hear the roar of the crowd get louder, overcoming the sounds of Professor Flitwick’s pep-band.

Cedric bowed his head slightly and muttered a small prayer to his mother before taking a deep breath.

“Ready, Mr. Diggory?” Dumbledore asked walking up to stand next to the Hogwarts’ champion.

“As ready as I will ever be.” Cedric laughed nervously.

Dumbledore gave Cedric a pat on the back. Cedric drew his wand and walked through the flap in the tent to enter a giant arena covered in sand, dirt, and jagged rocks. The terrain resembled a mountain top, lots of spaces to take cover, but it would be extremely difficult to navigate across the arena quickly.

Cedric looked up and saw large wooden bleachers surrounding the encircled arena, loud cheering bodies packed the stands. Many of the students carried banners and signs, waving flags, excited for the event to start. Cedric looked for Malcolm but could not find him in the mass of people.

Cedric glanced around the arena and saw a large nest with a golden egg sitting in it. Cedric started to quickly walk towards the egg but stopped in his tracks. _‘It can’t be this easy.’_ He thought to himself.

Cedric heard the faintest of roars in the distance and he quickly jumped back as a large blue fireball struck the ground, at the spot he had just been standing. Cedric used his arms to cover his face from the dirt and rocks that had been thrown into the air by the fiery explosion.

Cedric looked through the crevasse between his arms and saw a large silver-blue scaley beast fly over him and landed on top of the nest. The beast roared loudly, the ground shaking in response.

“Well, shi-“

Cedric dodged another fireball from the dragon. The crowd yelled in freight as the dragon continued to launch explosive fireballs at Cedric.

Cedric pushed himself off the ground with his free hand and fired an explosive spell at the dragon. The light blue bolt bounced off the scales of the dragon and blasted a rock to pieces.

“Dammit.” Cedric cursed under his breath as he ran up against a large boulder.

Cedric could feel the heat of the short Snout’s flames as a blanket of blue fire started to encircle him.

 _“Aguamenti!”_ Cedric shouted and a stream of water blasted from his wand and he extinguished the fire in front of him. Billows of smoke erupted around him; he used the smoke as cover and quickly ran forward.

Cedric heard the dragon roar once again and he heard the beast launch itself into the air. Cedric could feel the wind come up from underneath the beast as the force of the gusts nearly blew Cedric off his feet.

The thick smoke from the extinguished flames covered Cedric as he carefully made his way towards the nest. Cedric finally emerged from the smoke and saw the nest with the golden egg sitting mere steps away.

Cedric quickly walked over to the egg, but just as he reached for the golden object, the short snout landed directly in front of him.

The dragon roared in anger, at least Cedric assumed it was angry, as it leveled its large head directly at Cedric. He gripped his wand tightly, unable to think of what to do next.

 _‘This breed can be momentarily stunned by sudden bright light!’_ Cedric heard Aphrodite’s voice in his head.

Ignoring the invasion of privacy, Cedric quickly raised his wand and quickly fired off the _Lumos_ charm, nearly blinding Cedric himself.

The dragon gave out a startled cry as its head shook around, trying to overcome the sudden blast of light. Cedric stood motionless momentarily, shocked that it worked.

“GO!” He heard the crowd shout from the stands. Cedric shook his head in realization.

“Right.” He muttered to himself and ran underneath the disoriented dragon. Cedric slid underneath the beast and grabbed onto the golden egg, a wicked grin on his face as he embraced the large object.

The loud sound of a cannon going off in the distance rang throughout the arena and the dragon’s head instantly looked up towards the direction the sound came from. The dragon spread its wings and left the arena, while the crowd cheered for Cedric’s success.

Professor Dumbledore ran out onto the field followed by the other judges.

“Congratulations Mr. Diggory for completing the first task with all of your limbs still intact.” Dumbledore cheered, shaking Cedric’s hand.

Ceric grinned excitedly and turned to face the crowd, he held the egg up over his head, making the crowd cheer even louder. He finally saw Malcolm sitting in one of the front rows, next to the other demigods. He was cheering along with the other students, same with Will. Nico was clapping along, but it almost it looked forced, while Lou Ellen nodded her head approvingly.

Cedric gave one final wave before departing the arena towards the medical tent where Madam Pomphrey was doing ‘mandatory’ post-task medical checks.

**\\_()_/**

**Cedric** nearly fell over when Malcolm jumped into his arms. “For the love of _Herakles_ , no more dragon fighting, at least for another year.” Malcolm whispered as he dropped out of Cedric’s arms.

“No promises.” Cedric laughed.

“Good job Cedric.” Will congratulated, giving Cedric a quick hug, while Nico nodded his approval.

“Not too bad, for a child of Aphrodite.” Lou Ellen said giving the son of the love goddess a ‘high-five’.

Cedric cocked his head slightly, “Thanks… I think?”

“It was a compliment.”

“Cedric!” The voice of Ernie yelled over the crowd, he and Zacharias ran over to the joined group.

“Viktor just finished up, he survived.” Zacharias informed, glancing slightly at Lou Ellen, especially at the Slytherin crest on her robes.

“What?” She asked bluntly.

Zacharias turned away quickly, his face reddening from embarrassment.

“I expected as much, out of the four of us, I figured Fleur would be the one to struggle the most, but that’s mainly because I don’t really have a grasp on her magical abilities.” Cedric said.

“Right…Because it has nothing to do with her being a girl?” Lou Ellen asked.

“Wha-no, that has nothing to do with anything.” Cedric defended himself.

“Honestly, I thought Show-Boat-Potter would be the one to struggle out of anyone.” Ernie laughed.

Cedric frowned at the younger Hufflepuff. “Would you stop that.” He ordered.

Ernie shrugged his shoulders, “It’s true. Everyone’s saying it.”

“Just because everyone is saying something, doesn’t make it true.” Lou Ellen spoke up.

“Anyways, what’s with the egg?” Will asked, quickly changing the subject.

Cedric quickly picked the golden egg off the ground from the place he quickly laid it when Malcolm came running towards him minutes earlier. He slowly examined the golden object, the outside shell of the egg wasn’t anything too fancy, some engravings, but nothing of significance.

“Should I open it?” Cedric asked, placing his fingers on the knob at the top of the egg.

They nodded their heads, albeit nervously. Cedric twisted the knob and nearly dropped the egg as it emitted a loud painful scream.

Everyone quickly covered their ears in reaction while Cedric struggled to get the egg closed.

“What the bloody hell was that?” Ernie yelled.

“Some type of defense mechanism, obviously.” Lou Ellen muttered.

“That’s some defense mechanism.” Will scoffed.

“What?” Nico yelled, twisting his finger in his ear. Will patted Nico’s back reassuringly.

“We’ll table this for later.” Cedric said, grabbing his bookbag from Malcolm to stuff the egg into it.

“Are you going to watch Fleur and Potter attempt the task?” Zacharias asked.

Cedric almost immediately said yes, but then glanced at Malcolm, “Actually, I’m exhausted, I’m going to head back to the castle and lie down before everyone gets back. But you guys go ahead, I’ll see you guys at dinner.”

Ernie, Zacharias, Nico, Will and Lou Ellen turned to walk back to the arena, while Lou Ellen rolled her eyes at Cedric.

“You’re not tired, are you?” Malcolm asked glancing at his boyfriend.

Once the other were out of earshot, Cedric laughed. “Are you kidding? I’m on an adrenaline high right now!” Cedric laughed and grabbed Malcolm’s hand, “Come on!”

“Wha-“ Malcolm gasped as he was pulled along.

\\_()_/

 **Malcom** got pushed up against the wall of the Prefect’s bathroom as Cedric attacked his neck.

“Careful, I don’t want anything to show-oh!” Malcolm moaned as Cedric continued to kiss up Malcolm’s neck.

“You were saying?” Cedric whispered into his ear.

Malcolm snorted quietly before grabbing Cedric by his shirt and flipped their position to where Cedric was pushed up against the wall.

“I was saying that your shirt was in the way.” Malcolm said, pulling his glasses off and throwing them onto his robes on the ground that had been discarded minutes earlier.

Cedric smirked as he pulled his shirt over his head and quickly threw it aside. Malcolm bit his lip at the sight before him.

“What? Like what you see?” Cedric asked, pulling his arms behind his head, flexing his abs off for Malcolm.

“A little too much.” Malcolm muttered as he leaned into kiss Cedric.

“Oh, whose Cedric’s little friend?” A high-pitched voice called out, making both of the boys jump.

“What the Hades?” Malcolm asked, instinctively reaching for his celestial bronze dagger.

“Myrtle, out!” Cedric yelled.

A ghost appeared out from one of the stalls in the bathroom, floating a few feet off the ground.

“If I can’t enjoy having all ‘this’ to myself, the least you could do for me is to let me watch.” Myrtle cried flying over to float next to the boys.

Malcolm backed up against the wall while Cedric pulled his wand out from his pocket. “Myrtle, I swear to Merlin that if you don’t get out, I will banish you from here.” Cedric threatened.

The teenaged ghost did not look impressed. “Cedie, don’t make threats that you won’t follow through on, because if you do try to ‘banish’ me, then I’ll just tell the whole school about you being… one of them.” Myrtle whispered, while pointing at Malcolm.

“Myrtle, I don’t care if you make me… show off in front of you, but there is no way in Hades that I’m going to let you take advantage of my boyfriend like that. You understand?” Cedric threatened, pointing an angry finger through her ghostly form.

Myrtle pucker her lips and squeaked out a “hmpf”. “Fine, I’ll just go back down to the other bathroom… All alone, in this big empty bathroom. With no one to share it with-“

“Goodbye Myrtle.” Cedric ordered and the ghost dived through the floor and disappeared.

Once she was gone Cedric turned around, rubbing the back of his head, “Well, I guess that kind of ruined the moment?” Cedric nervously laughed.

Malcolm shrugged his shoulders, “Sure, the teenage ghost girl definitely will not be a fun highlight to look back on, but you getting all bossy like that, was kind of a turn on.” Malcolm murmured, using his fingers to trail up Cedric’s bare chest.

“Was it now?” Cedric whispered through his smirk.

Malcolm rolled his eyes, “I should have kept my mouth shut.”

Cedric chuckled as he leaned in to kiss Malcolm. “I wish we could stay like this forever.” Cedric murmured in between kisses.

Malcolm moaned in agreement, letting the world fall apart around him. He could stay like this, in Cedric’s arms forever. Letting go of the fact that he was in the middle of a quest, and that Cedric’s life could be at risk. That risk exponentially greater with his inclusion into the Triwizard Tournament.

Malcolm was about to pull his shirt over his shoulders when he heard footsteps and talking out in the hall. Malcolm sighed and pulled away from Cedric and smacked the back of his head against the wall in frustration.

Cedric turned to face him. “Well, it was fun while it lasted.”

Malcolm groaned in annoyance and walked over to pick up his robe and glasses.

Cedric walked over to him once he put his shirt back on, “Let’s be honest, neither one of us would have really enjoyed doing anything more, in a bloody bathroom.” Cedric laughed.

“I mean, as bathroom’s go, this one ain’t half bad.” Malcolm laughed shrugging his shoulders.

“No, I guess not.”

Malcolm and Cedric quickly made their way out of the Prefects’ bathroom and started to walk down the hall towards the Great Hall when they were met by a scowling Lou Ellen and Will.

Will looked like he was trying hard not to laugh while the look of judgment was ever present in Lou Ellen’s facial expression.

“You two look like the embodiment of the walk of shame.” Lou Ellen muttered.

Malcolm was about to argue back, but looked at Cedric and noticed his hair was a complete mess and his shirt was inside out. “Cedric.” Malcolm said plainly.

“Huh?” Cedric asked looking at Malcolm.

Malcolm nodded his head at Cedric, trying to get him to see his clothing issue.

Cedric was still confused before looking down and nearly jumping. “Well, shit.” Cedric laughed and took off his shirt in the middle of a not so empty hallway and corrected his shirt.

Will walked over to lean down in Malcolm’s ear, “You can certainly pick ‘em.” As they both stared at his half-naked body as he put his shirt back on.

“Don’t be hitting on my boyfriend, especially since you have one of your own.” Malcolm retorted.

“Doesn’t mean I can’t look.” Will whispered before pulling away.

“Uh-huh, I’m sure Nico would feel _elated_ to hear you say that.” Malcolm snorted.

“Bitch please, Nico’s worse than I am. He just won’t ever admit it.” Will snickered.

“And neither are you supposed too.” Malcolm shot back.

Will shrugged his shoulders. “Whateves. I’m heading down to the Great Hall for some food if anyone wishes to join me.” Will said walking away from the others.

“I think I’m actually going to go get some sleep now, I’m actually really tired now.” Cedric said.

“I’m sure you are.” Lou Ellen smirked.

“Why are you still here?” Malcolm asked annoyed.

“I don’t have any other friends here. And plus, it’s fun watching your displeasure.” Lou Ellen said, shrugging her shoulders.

“Ignore her.” Cedric whispered and gave Malcolm a peck on the cheek before walking off in the other direction.

Malcolm sighed as he watched his boyfriend walk away from him. He wasn’t trying to be _that_ person, but for the sake of Zeus, he just wanted to spend some actual quality time with Cedric.

“Come on Lover Boy, we can get something to eat, and try to strategize over some ideas about that stupid egg thing.” Lou Ellen said pulling Malcolm with her towards the Great Hall.

“Right, the screeching egg thing. Fun.” Malcolm muttered and allowed Lou Ellen to direct him towards dinner.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter VIII: Spawn’s of Poseidon Can be Useful Every Once and a While… Who Knew?**

**Nico di Angelo** sat down next to Hermione Granger in Professor McGonagall’s transfiguration classroom. All the desks had been pushed against the walls, and two sets of wooden bleachers were facing each other in the middle of the classroom. Every Gryffindor who was a Fourth Year or above was seated on either side of the bleachers. A large gramophone sat at the back of the classroom with Filch standing beside it, looking extremely bored.

“What’s going on?” Parvati Patil asked Hermione when she sat down on the other side of her.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders. “No idea, and it’s bugging me that I can’t figure it out.” The Fourth year complained.

“Have you heard anything, Nico?” Parvati asked, leaning over Hermione.

Nico shook his head, “I was just told not to be late.”

The doors to classroom loudly opened and Professor McGonagall quickly walked into the room.

“Good morning, thank you all for coming down on your Saturday.” Professor McGonagall greeted.

“Not like we had much of a choice.” Nico heard a boy sitting behind him mutter.

If McGonagall heard him, she did not let it show as she continued on, “As per-tradition with the Triwizard Tournament, on Christmas the host school always puts on the traditional Yule Ball.”

There were small rumbles going around the room, trying to decipher what McGonagall was talking about.

“Quiet!” She ordered. The room quickly fell silent once again. “The Yule Ball is a dance of sorts, it is a way for us all-to-er, to put our hair down. The ball aims to let lose any tensions between the schools and allow everyone to just have some fun.

Nico looked across the room and saw Harry and Ron look terrified. Nico did notice that the two had not been fighting anymore. Apparently, they reconciled their grievances after Harry survived the First Task, according to Hermione.

“But, the ball is also a very formal affair, and I will not allow the house of Godric Gryffindor to be embarrassed by any buffoonery!” Professor McGonagall demanded.

The faces of everyone, especially the boys went white as they started to realize what she meant. _‘Oh no._ ’ Nico thought to himself.

“Yes, you all must learn how to dance.” McGonagall said with a little too much glee in her voice. “I shall need a volunteer.” All the boys instantly shrank in their seats,”-Mr. Weasley!” McGonagall called out walking over to Ron and gesturing for him to join her.

He shook his head ‘no’, fear present in his eyes. Eventually the Weasley twins pushed him up, much to their delight.

Ron slowly joined McGonagall and hesitantly grabbed her hands. McGonagall nodded her head at Filch and he turned the gramophone on, and a slow Waltz started to play.

McGonagall started to demonstrate how to ‘properly’ dance. “One… Two… Three… One… Two… Three…” She called out as Ron constantly tripped over his own feet.

Nico had to suppress a laugh, while Hermione covered her mouth as she giggled.

“Everyone up! Find a partner.” McGonagall called out and everyone quickly got up and ran around the room looking for a partner.

Nico stuck close to Hermione, unsure of what to do.

Hermione noticed Nico just standing there and grabbed his arm. “Come on.” She ordered and placed his hand on her waist and grabbed onto the other.

Nico still felt extremely awkward, partly because he and Hermione were essentially the same height, and because he would rather jump back into Tartarus then do this. “Uh-thanks.” Nico muttered.

Nico let Hermione take the lead as they started to sway to the beat of the music.

“Do we all really have to go to this?” Nico asked as he tripped over his foot. Hermione laughed as she continued to lead Nico.

“Technically no, but I don’t think Professor McGonagall is going to let any of us get out of it. And I need to go to support Harry. He’s going to need the moral support.” Hermione said as she cocked her head towards Harry who was struggling worse than Nico with some random Fifth Year girl.

“Are you two going together?” Nico asked, recalling the newspaper headline he saw just after the First Task claiming Harry and Hermione were in a _secret_ love affair.

“What? God no!” Hermione said defensively.

Nico bit his lip, “Sorry, I saw the paper…”

Hermione sighed, “I shouldn’t have snapped, but no, we are just friends. That article was just Rita Skeeter trying to sell a few papers.”

Nico nodded, “Makes sense, I figured as much.”

“So how about you? Anyone catch your fancy?” Hermione asked, peering her head around, Nico assumed she was trying to find him a date.

“I-I’m actually seeing someone.” He muttered, not sure if he really wanted to have this conversation with the witch.

“Oh, I’m assuming that she’s back in America?” She asked, making Nico flinch.

“Uh, no.” He said, trying to think of anything to change the subject before deciding to rip the band-aide off. “I’m… with Will.” Nico nervously muttered, avoiding Hermione’s gaze.

“Oh good.” Hermione said, almost relieved.

Nico narrowed his eyes at the witch, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Hermione blushed slightly, “Oh, no-nothing. It was just, I wasn’t trying to assume but I didn’t want to ask, just because, you-know…” Hermione stammered.

“Are we really that obvious?” Nico asked as he started to lead Hermione a little bit further away from the cluster of Gryffindors.

"Kinda, but only when you two are sitting with one another, and its more him than you, so I figured he was, but I wasn’t a hundred percent sure on you…” Hermione explained.

Nico nodded his head, internally trying not to freak out.

“Are you two…you know-“

“Out?” Nico asked quietly.

Hermione nodded her head.

“Umm, not hiding it necessarily, but not advertising. Just, us being us.” Nico murmured. “We weren’t so sure how… accepting magical Europe would be to us.”

Hermione seemed to really think about his answer, “Well, I haven’t known too many gay witches or wizards, but it seems to be going okay with Cedric and…Malcolm, right? It’s been a moment since we’ve actually met.”

Nico nodded his head, “Yeah, you have a point, I’m just a private person, my business isn’t anyone else’s business.” Nico stated sternly.

Hermione bit her lip, weighing her possible responses. “Well, if you care for my opinion, I think that you two make a great pair.” She whispered just before McGonagall clapped her hands to garner everyone’s attention.

Everyone stopped dancing and turned their attention to Professor McGonagall with a blushing Ronald Weasley trying to back away from the older witch.

“I think that is enough… dancing for one day. Go enjoy the rest of your Saturday.” McGonagall said and everyone in the room quickly went back to gather their things at the benches. “-Oh, and Seventh Years, don’t forget to hand in your essays before class Monday!” She yelled over the commotion of the students.

Nico heard a few groans but quickly pushed past the students making his way out the door.

Will was waiting for him down the hall, just like he had promised an hour earlier.

“Hey Neeks, how was dance rehearsal?” Will asked shimming his shoulders slightly.

Nico shook his head, “How did you know that’s what we were doing?”

Will snorted like it was the dumbest question he has ever heard, “I could hear the music and the sound of everyone’s out-of-time feet off the stone, which carried out here. And you’re also sweating.” Will laughed wiping a bead of sweat from Nico’s forehead.

Nico quickly groaned and used the bottom of his shirt to dry his face.

“Now, more importantly, why were you guys dancing?” Will asked, leading Nico down the empty halls of Hogwarts.

Nico shrugged his shoulders, “Apparently there’s this thing called a ‘Yule Ball’ on Christmas-“

“Ooh, ball, as in like a gala, or a dance?” Will interrupted excited.

“Yup.” Nico said popping the ‘P’. “We were waltzing… I think. It was more like swaying to a beat, but yeah. It’s extremely formal.”

Will bit his lip, “Do I need to fight someone?” He asked, feigning seriousness.

Nico rolled his eyes at his boyfriend’s attempt at sounding threatening. “I danced with Hermione. Hardly a threat to you and your apparent fragile masculinity.”

Will stared at him for another moment before breaking down in a fit of laughter. “I could never be the jealous boyfriend type. Herakles! It takes a lot of effort just to try and be jealous.”

Nico cracked a smile at him, “I did mention to Hermione that you and I are…” Nico led, letting Will connect the dots.

“Oh, good. I’m glad you’re getting more comfortable about being a little more open. I know its… difficult, especially for you so-“

“So, you’re not mad I didn’t talk to you about it first?” Nico asked.

Will shook his head. “No, of course not. I told you, I am ready to be as open about us as you are. No more, no less.” Will whispered glancing down the hall before grasping Nico’s fingers with his own.

Nico nodded his head, “Good, and um…”

“Yeah…?” Will asked nervously.

“I want to go to the Yule Ball, with you. As in go as a couple.” Nico said nervously.

Will’s face made a few different shapes as he tried to process what Nico just said. After another moment his face lit up and large smile was plastered on his face. “Really, you want too?” Will asked excitedly.

“Yes… I think? No, yes… I do want to go, with you.” Nico said. “I need to get over this fear. I need to let go of the fear Eros has been hanging on over me for months now. I need to accept that this isn’t Nineteen-Thirties Italy.” Nico listed, his voice getting shakier as he went on, trying not to let the emotions get to him. He could feel his eyes start to water up. “I need to live my-“

Will quickly wrapped him up in a hug. “It’s okay. I’m proud of you. I know this isn’t easy for you.”

Nico nodded before pulling away. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve before stepping back. “With that out of the way, what did you want to do today. I already finished all of my homework for the next few days.”

“Wow, nerd.” Will laughed as he led Nico down the hall.

Nico rolled his eyes. “I know you’re not talking.”

Will shrugged his shoulders. “I just say it as I see it.”

\\_()_/

**Malcolm Pace** kept an eye over his shoulder while Cedric opened the door to the Prefect’s bathroom. The large, secluded room had become their ‘spot’ with the cold November air making it difficult to find privacy outside the castle. The only person outside of the other demigods who knew that they had essentially commandeered the large bathroom was Moaning Myrtle, and that was only because Cedric and Myrtle had made a deal earlier in the year that she would haunt the bathroom, keeping all other staff and students as far away as possible.

Most of the time only Malcolm and Cedric use the room, Nico and Will typically hang out in the library, and Lou Ellen… She could adjust to any environment, or she would come up to the bathroom on her own, and let her frustration out on the bathroom stalls.

Cedric had to magically repair a stall or two over the past few weeks after Lou Ellen would get into an argument or a near fight with someone and release her anger on the defenseless bathroom.

Malcolm followed Cedric into the bathroom as he magically locked the door behind them. Once the door was locked, Cedric reached into his bag and pulled out the dreaded golden egg.

For weeks now, the demigods, and even a few of Cedric’s Hogwarts friends have been pouring their resources into trying to figure out what the clue for the next task was, hiding somewhere in the booby-trapped egg.

“I still think those symbols on the side are a language of some type.” Malcolm observed, as Cedric placed the large egg on the ground next to the empty bathtub.

“Well, it’s not Latin, Greek, Celtic, or any magical language I or Lou Ellen recognize.” Cedric added.

Malcolm threw his hands up at a loss.

Cedric hovered his hand over the top the egg, nearly touching the dial which would open the egg to the gods awful screeching. They had attempted to suffer through the screeching one night, but they couldn’t handle the pain. It got to the point where it was even bothering Myrtle.

“Well, I’m out of ideas.” Cedric muttered, sitting down next to the egg, his feet swinging aimlessly in the open tub.

Malcolm sat down next to him and the egg, looking up at the stained-glass mermaid near the ceiling.

“We could always call my sister, Annabeth that is, and see if she has any ideas?” Malcolm suggested.

Cedric shrugged his shoulders, “No offense to Annabeth, but she’s not exactly prone in the arts of magic.”

“No, but, she might see something we’re missing.” Malcolm retorted.

Cedric gave Malcolm a slight gesture with his hand. Malcolm quickly got up and turned on one of the top spickets of the large fountain in the middle of the bathtub, and looked around for a source of light.

A bright beam of light hit him directly in the face, looking up at the source, Malcolm watched as the mermaid in the glass moved, and gave him a small wink. A bright ray of light shined from the painted sun in the sky behind the rock the mermaid had been sitting on moments earlier.

Malcolm backed up to where he and Cedric were sitting, making sure to avoid the splashes of water.

A rainbow appeared in front of the two demigods and Malcolm reached into his robes looking for a golden Drachma. Smirking in satisfaction when he found the large coin, he quickly tossed it into the rainbow. “Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering.” Malcolm prayed as he waited for the shimmering water particles to accept his payment. “Show me Annabeth Chase in Manhattan, New York.”

A few seconds later an image of Annabeth and a shirtless Percy Jackson appeared, both sitting up against a headboard in Percy’s bed.

Percy nearly jumped up out of bed, while Annabeth rolled her eyes.

“What?” She asked slightly annoyed.

Cedric waved at the duo as Percy struggled to put on a camouflage green tank top.

“We need your help.” Malcolm said, holding up the egg.

Annabeth stared at the egg for a moment before nodding. “Percy, pause it.” She commanded.

Percy rolled his eyes as he struggled to find the remote.

“What are you guys watching?” Malcolm asked, his curiosity winning over the part of his brain that told him to let it go.

“CNN.” Annabeth said.

Malcolm gave her a questioning gesture. “You’re pausing the news?"

"Yeah… Oh, I forgot, you’re devoid of what’s going on in the mortal world. We’re watching the fallout from the royal wedding.” Annabeth laughed.

“I’m going to regret this, but what?” Malcolm asked, not glancing at Cedric, knowing that he was judging him.

“Short version, the Prince, not the one getting married-“

“-Henry.” Percy supplied, not looking up from the Nintendo Switch he had grabbed from the nightstand next to his bed.

“Yes, Prince Henry. Anyways, you know the First Son, as of the First Son of the United States-“

“Alex?” Malcolm asked questionably, full well knowing who the most eligible twenty-one year old bachelor in the US was.

“Yeah, he and Prince Henry got into a drunken fight at Prince Phillips wedding and knocked over their seventy-five-thousand-dollar wedding cake. It’s literally the only thing on TV.” Annabeth laughed. “It’s the biggest international incident to happen between the US and UK in years.”

Percy looked up from the Switch, “Literally, the only thing on TV.” He said clearly annoyed.

“Well, that sucks for Phillip, and US foreign policy, but can we get back to our _life and death_ situation.” Malcolm pleaded with his older sister.

“Right, sorry. What’s your problem?” Annabeth asked, her demeanor back at the stereotypical level for a child of Athena.

Malcolm and Cedric quickly recalled the tale of the First Task, and the mystery behind the golden egg.

“I assume you tried opening it?” Annabeth asked.

Malcolm inhaled deeply, “Yes Annabeth, we tried opening it, and it’s warded with some type of sonic defense spell.”

“It looks like a messenger egg.” Percy said, finally putting his gaming device down. Malcolm was going to ask him why he dared mess with an electronic device later.

“Come again?” Cedric asked.

“It looks like the messaging eggs the mer-people around Poseidonis use.” Percy said.

“What’s a Poseidonis?” Cedric asked.

“The city where Poseidon rules the seas from.” Malcolm answered.

“Yeah, underwater dwellers use them to leave messages. Have you tried submerging the egg in the water and then try listening to it?” Percy asked.

Malcolm and Cedric looked at one another. “Nope.” Malcolm muttered.

“That should do it then.” Percy said and went back to his game.

Malcolm just gave Annabeth a ‘WTF’ face at Percy’s random act of helpfulness.

“What can I say, he has his moments.” Annabeth laughed. Percy made an unpleasant face at her comment but didn’t look up from his game.

“How the Hades are you playing that without getting swamped by monsters?” Malcolm asked.

“He doesn’t have it connected to the Wi-Fi.” Annabeth answered. “He’s been obsessing with it all weekend.” Annabeth murmured.

Percy pursed his lips, “I have not. I only have a couple of more days before I have to send it back with your brother, I’m just trying to figure out if I should invest into one of these things.” He said defensively.

“It’s Bobby’s Switch. He and Matthew are staying with us for a few days while Dad does some exhibit up in Boston. And gods only know what their mother is doing right now, so I offered for them to be able to hang out with us and see the city.” Annabeth explained.

Cedric and Malcolm cooed, “Aww, look at you being a helpful big sister.” Malcolm laughed.

“Ah, shut up you two. Don’t you have rabbits to pull out of some hats or something?” She mocked.

“That is an offensive stereotype.” Malcolm countered while Cedric tried to contain his laughter.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, “I’m hanging up now. But Mal, stay safe, and if you ever need help. We’re an IM away.” Annabeth said seriously. “You too Cedric. Send the others our best, love you little bro.”

“You too Annie.” Malcolm said and cut the connection before Annabeth could scold him.

Once the rainbow cloud dissipated Cedric walked over to the other spickets and turned them on, flooding the large tub. Rainbow soaps mixed in with the water and created a white blanket over the water.

Cedric and Malcolm quickly jumped out of the tub before the water could get them wet.

“Can’t we just plug a sink and drop the egg in it, or something?” Malcolm asked, eyeing the tub filling up with water at an unnatural rate.

Cedric gave him a devilish smirk, “Now where’s the fun in that?” He asked, dropping his robe and undoing his tie.

Malcolm stood biting his lower lip, not sure on how he should respond. “Are you seriously stripping and getting into the bathtub to listen to an egg?”

Cedric shrugged his shoulders, “Its that or get my clothes wet.” Using his signature smirk, he continued to take off his clothes. His smile faltered when he noticed Malcolm just standing there, not moving. “You don’t have to get in if you don’t want too, or if you’re not-“

Malcolm cut him off by throwing off his shirt and undoing his belt and dropped down to his red boxers. Cedric bit his lip as he watched his boyfriend strip off the remainder of his clothing and step into the quickly filling bathtub, sinking into the colorful bubbles.

“You commin’?” Malcolm asked ducking his head underneath the water and jumping back up, his entire head covered in a rainbow of bubbles.

Cedric could not have gotten the rest of his clothes off faster and cannonballed into the tub. Malcolm covered his eyes as a wall of water ran into him.

Cedric popped out of the tub laughing as Malcolm just gave him a frustrated look as he spat out a stream of water that had gotten in his mouth.

“What?” Cedric asked.

Malcolm shook his head and glided over to Cedric. “This thing is almost more of a swimming pool than a bathtub.” Malcolm observed as the taps slowed their flow of water.

“Is that a problem?” Cedric asked, almost sarcastically.

Malcolm shrugged his shoulders, “Just an observation.”

Cedric squatted to keep the water just below his shoulders and wiped some of the bubbles off Malcolm’s chin.

Malcolm leaned in to kiss Cedric, taking him almost by surprise before he returned the favor. Cedric pushed Malcolm back towards the edge of the tub without breaking the kiss.

Malcolm used his hand to steady himself on the wall, making sure that he wouldn’t slip below the water. Malcolm broke the kiss when he heard a high pitched ‘squeak’ directly above him.

Cedric and Malcolm both stared at one another for a moment and slowly looked up to see Myrtle with a hand covering her mouth and gave a shy wave at the two.

“Myrtle!” Cedric yelled reaching for his wand, but remembering that it was out of reach, sitting with his clothes and the egg.

“Don’t mind me, please continue.” Myrtle said, floating just out of arm reach above the couple.

Cedric looked like he was about to start World War III with the ghost. Malcolm gently stroked Cedric’s arm trying to calm him down.

“Hey babe.” Malcolm softly said grabbing Cedric’s attention. “Ignore her, let’s actually try to figure out this egg thing.”

Cedric nodded his head and stepped out of the tub and carefully walked over to where the egg sat. Malcolm inadvertently stared at Cedric’s lean form. Cedric must have known Malcolm was staring because he started to slow and exaggerate his movements. He slowly leaned down to pick up the egg and started to walk back to the tub.

“Enjoy the show?” Cedric asked, sinking back into the bubbly water, and placed his arm around Malcolm’s shoulders.

“It was alright, a solid seven-out-of-ten.” Malcolm laughed sarcastically.

Cedric gently pushed Malcolm, sliding him down the tub slightly. “Okay smartass, let’s figure out this stupid thing.” Cedric muttered, holding the egg just above the water. “Ready?” He asked eyeing the egg and Malcolm nervously.

Malcolm nodded his head and the two slowly sank underneath the water, and Cedric carefully opened the egg. Malcolm flinched anticipating the high-pitched siren call, but instead a soft melodic voice started to sing.

Malcolm was distracted by the sudden change in the sound coming from the egg that he missed the first half of the lyrics in the song.

_“-We’ve taken what you’ll sorely miss,  
An hour long you’ll have to look,  
And to recover what we’ve took,  
But past an hour-the prospects black,  
Too late, it’s gone, it won’t come back.”_

Cedric and Malcolm both shot up as soon as the song ended, gasping for air.

“Merlin, that was intense.” Cedric said, making sure to close the egg underneath the water before bringing it back up, and sitting it aside out of the tub.

“Did you catch it all?” Malcolm asked.

Cedric nodded his head, “I think so… But I have no idea where to start with this.” He admitted.

“Well, it mentioned something about having an hour to recover something of yours… So, a scavenger hunt or some type of recovery quest.” Malcolm said, talking more to himself then to Cedric.

“Alright, that doesn’t really narrow anything down. I haven’t noticed anything of value to me missing recently.” Cedric said.

Malcolm shrugged his shoulders, “That just probably means they haven’t taken it yet. They’ll probably wait to the last possible moment that way you don’t notice anything missing.”

Cedric nodded his head before looking at a clock hanging up near the exit. “It’s almost dinner time, you want to head down and meet up with the others and try to workshop some ideas?”

Malcolm slowly nodded his head in agreement before stepping out of the large tub, shivering from the sudden loss of heat from the bath.

Cedric quickly followed and picked up his wand to instant-dry both of them.

“Thanks.” Malcolm said shivering as he put his clothes on.

“Of course my love.” Cedric said in a faux accent. “I’m going to run the egg back to my dormitory, meet you in the Hall?” He asked giving Malcolm a quick peck on the cheek and walked out of the bathroom before Malcolm could respond.

“Just automatically assume that I’m going to meet you why don’t you?” Malcolm muttered to himself while rolling his eyes. “It’s a good thing I finally remembered which hallway to turn down.” He said under his breath as he slipped his arms through the sleeves of the black robe. “Gods I can’t wait until I can just wear jeans and a T-Shirt again.”

“Oh quit your complaining!” Myrtle called out from one of the bathroom stalls.

“Ah shut-up you waste of ecto-plasm!” Malcolm called out.

“I don’t even know what that’s supposed to mean, but I assume its an insult, and I do not appreciate it you whiny bitch!” Myrtle yelled back.

Malcolm cocked his head back in surprise at the ghost’s brashness and stormed out of the bathroom while ‘flipping’ off the bathroom stalls.

**\\_()_/**

**Lou Ellen Blackstone** sat alone at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, holding a crème envelope with golden cursive writing across the back of the paper. A decorative stamp sat in the corner, an image of her father and future stepmother smiling and waving in the magical portrait.

Lou Ellen didn’t look up when someone sat down across from her, she was completely mesmerized at the wedding invitation.

She knew that she had no reason to have any ill-will towards Penelope, she made her father happy, and vice versa, and she defiantly did not start to date her father for his money, since she could just buy her own country if she really wanted too. But the change was just too much. She wasn’t ready to have another person enter their lives. Even though Lou Ellen had not been in her father’s life that much ever since she spent majority of her time either at school or Camp. But gods forgive her for being slightly selfish and wanting to be protective of her father.

“You’ve been staring at that letter all day now, you ever going to open it?” The voice of Draco Malfoy spoke up from the other side of the table.

She debated on whether to tell the other Slytherin to bug off, but just sighed before sitting the envelope down on the table and took a large swig of her drink.

“It’s the invitation for my father’s wedding.” Lou Ellen said softly.

Draco pursed his lips, thinking through what to say, which somewhat surprised the daughter of Hecate.

“Oh, I’m assuming you don’t like the gold-digger?” Draco laughed.

Lou Ellen cracked a smile, “Ironically, she’s the one who has more money, and probably power than dad.”

“Right.” The realization of who Thomas was marrying appeared on Draco’s face. “Your father’s engaged to Ambassador Creighton-Ward. My father has had some… choice words and opinions on the matter.” Draco said carefully.

Lou Ellen snorted, “Opinions on the fact that a white woman is marrying a black man or opinions on a No-Maj marrying a wizard?”

Draco’s eyes landed everywhere but Lou Ellen. “A little bit of both.” He murmured.

Lou Ellen shook her head and rolled her eyes, “Doesn’t surprise me, no offense.” She and Draco both knew she meant to insult Lucious but left it at that.

“When’s the wedding?” Draco asked changing the subject.

“Christmas, I think. I should probably open the invitation to know for sure.” She muttered, making Draco crack a smile.

“So, that means you’re going to miss the Yule Ball?” Draco asked.

“If there was one bright spot from all this, that would be it.” Lou Ellen softly laughed. “Are you going to the ball?” Lou asked, surprising herself that she asked.

Draco also seemed to be surprised that she asked, “Umm, no, don’t have anyone to go with, nor do I want to go.”

Lou Ellen raised one of her eyebrows, “What about Pansy?”

Draco ran a hand through his hair, looking slightly uncomfortable. “We broke up actually, a little over a week ago.”

Lou Ellen sat up, slightly shocked. Mainly because she didn’t know they had broken up, she figured it would be the hottest gossip in the dormitory.

“You seemed surprised.” Draco observed as he used his wand to summon a cup and drank out of it while he waited for Lou Ellen to respond.

“I would be lying if I said that I didn’t see it coming.” Lou Ellen muttered into her cup, looking over the bottom of the glass at Draco’s reaction.

He simply shrugged. “When you… intervened that one night, it kind of opened my eyes about just how-“

“-Much of a bitch she is?” Lou Ellen interrupted.

Draco cracked a smile. “Sure.”

Lou Ellen looked down at the letter before taking a deep breath in and finally undid the wax seal, opened the invitation.

_‘You are formally invited to attend President Thomas Blackstone and Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward’s wedding on the Twenty-fifth of December._

_Please send you intention to attend and any guests you wish to bring as soon as possible, and a portkey will be sent to you.’_

Lou Ellen placed the letter down and looked back up at Draco who was putting together a plate of food. She glanced back down at her letter before shaking her head when the thought crossed her mind.

_‘Don’t do it.’_ The rationale part of her brain told her. But she looked at Draco, and how at peace he seemed to be right now, especially since he wasn’t around any of his troublesome friends, or his now-ex-girlfriend. He was always almost a completely different person when he wasn’t trying to show off in front of everyone.

“Hey Draco.” Lou Ellen said before he could stop herself. He looked up at her.

“Since you don’t have any plans for the Yule Ball, do you, perhaps want to go with me to my dad’s wedding.” She asked. Draco tilted his head, clearly thinking the decision over. “As friends. Nothing more, nothing less.” She added quickly.

Draco thought over it for another moment, “As friends then.” He responded.

Lou Ellen looked up to see Cedric and Will walking over to an empty spot at the Ravenclaw table where Malcolm and Nico were huddled up. “Great, formal wear, but bring beach clothes, its going to be held on a tropical island.” She said and quickly stood up to walk over to the other demigods.

_‘What the Hades am I doing to myself.’_

**Author's Note:**

> May the Force be with you because there can be no peace when there is no justice.


End file.
